Revelations
by Aeary
Summary: Takes place a year after the final battle with the Earl. Allen's POV 1st Person. Allen realizes he always felt something for Kanda, but he's too shy to admit it and has no idea Kanda feels the same. Also, something is stirring up the dead battlefield ...
1. Awkward Dining

I never once considered that I was gay. No male had ever turned me on. Then again, I never considered the fact that I wasn't interested in females either. I always blamed it on my adolescence; I was too young to have the urge to fall in love. No, neither sex had ever caught my attention.

But then, Kanda Yu seemed to be neither of the two.

The Japanese swordsman was so very feminine looking with his slim hips and long silky hair. However, he was undoubtedly a man. I didn't understand what turned me on so much; he was only ever rude to me. He never made me mad; I just yelled back for a chance to be with him.

What I didn't know was that Kanda Yu was doing the same exact thing. If it hadn't been for Lavi, neither of us would have realized that we were alike. And _that_ didn't happen until around a year after the Earl's defeat.

The survivors of the ordeal stayed at the order's Headquarters. We were the ones who had dedicated our entire lives to our cause. We didn't know how to be anything except for Exorcists. I myself wished sometimes that the war had never ended. Then we would have had a purpose for living.

Then all of our friends would still be alive.

Myself. Kanda Yu. Lavi. Komui Lee. Miranda. Arystar Krory. General Froi Teidoll. We were the only survivors of the final battle. Komui was never the same after Lenalee's death. He was so much more serious. She died in vain for an innocence heart that wasn't there. Bookman, shot through by an Akuma as he protected the only person he had ever truly cared for.

They all died gruesome deaths. We honored their deaths by not staying sad. They died so that we could be happy.

Lavi's innocence had been destroyed. Kanda's was still safe; as if he would ever allow it to be destroyed again after the Ark fiasco. Miranda's had protected us to its very last limits. And my innocence, the true heart, stayed with me. I couldn't picture myself without it by my side . . . or, well, attached to me.

We were all Exorcists, though. Innocence or not.

"Allen."

"Hmm?" I propped myself upright on my bed to stare at Lavi. The red head no longer wore an eye patch to cover his right eye. With the war done, he had no need to. Both eyes stared firmly back at me.

"Did you love Lenalee?"

I sighed. "She was a dear, dear sister to me. I loved her, yeah. But not the way you're talking about."

"Good. Because I think I may have loved her."

"Strange time to finally realize that." I sat up fully, wondering if the reason Lavi had asked was because he knew what I was thinking about. So I changed the subject. "Have you made your decision yet?"

"Yeah." Lavi stared up at me firmly. "I'm ending the Bookman line. I think . . . as weird as it sounds, Gramps wanted me to. After all . . . I sure don't want to be known as Bookman all my life!"

"Yeah," I laughed.

"Hey! Moyashi, Lavi, time for dinner!"

Kanda. Even the sound of his voice had my heart pounding, and for reasons even I had no idea about. Lavi must have seen my reaction, because he grinned in that embarrassing way that he had and said, "Aw, Allen, your face is all red."

"I'm hungry!" I protested, in an attempt to defend myself.

"Let's go eat, then! With _Kan-da_."

Childishly I stuck my tongue out at the twenty year old before following.

Dinner, as usual, was a quiet affair. It was no longer the same as it used to be. The finders had returned to their families, no longer gracing the tables of our gargantuan dining hall. There was no one you could _choose_ to sit with. We all sat together, at one small table right in the center of the cafeteria. And, now, I always felt self conscious about taking all of the food over and over again. It was almost contradicting the fact that the war was over. My innocence still wanted all of the energy.

I sat down tentatively in between Lavi and Kanda, across from our one remaining general. Froi Teidoll smiled at me, but he seemed engrossed in a piece of artwork. He was the one that had changed the least with the ending of the war. I believed it was because he conveyed his sadness in the art he became obsessed with. His pieces were never happy anymore.

"So, Yu, what did _you _do all day?" Lavi demanded.

"Tch. What do you think I did? There's nothing to do except for practice now." Kanda had long since stopped trying to get Lavi to call him by his last name. After a year, there was no point. Lavi simply would not stop. "At least I'm not being lazy, like you."

"I'm not lazy! I just don't feel like doing stuff sometimes . . . well, most of the time."

I rolled my eyes; Lavi was about to get in deep. Deciding not to get involved for once, I turned back to my meal, only to catch someone staring at me. I glanced up as Miranda and Krory sat down. "Hey."

"Allen, you've hardly touched your food tonight," Miranda said.

"Ah, it's alright. I was just listening to those two for a minute. But there's really no point."

"My teeth are aching again," Krory muttered gloomily.

"Krory, if you would just allow me to operate, I could help your problem—" Komui tried.

"No!"

I grinned. No matter how sober Komui had become, his idea of surgery was still as wacked as before. Still . . . there were no more Akuma. Which meant that Krory's innocence was no longer receiving blood. And lately, the teeth had been acting up for the older Exorcist. I wondered—no, dreaded—that the Innocence might be trying to destroy him since he wasn't helping it.

"Moyashi," Kanda said suddenly.

I turned quickly, trying not to show too much enthusiasm in replying to his acknowledgement. Lavi knowing was one thing, but if Kanda ever found out . . . "What is it?"

"Tomorrow morning," he said gruffly. Obviously—and to my amusement—he was trying to ask me to do something with him. But, since it was Kanda, he had no idea how to ask anyone anything. "Training rooms. You'll . . . um. Practice with me? You haven't been in there in awhile."

That was the closest I was going to get to an actual question by Kanda, so I didn't push it. "Sure," I agreed, with a laugh.

I didn't find out until much later that Lavi had already known about Kanda's feelings towards me. He had pushed Kanda into asking, just so that we might finally admit to each other what we were feeling.

"A-llen!" Lavi hollered, locking me into a sort of noose with his arm. "Hurry up and eat! I want to go into town!"

"But it's already getting dark!"

"So? The best time to go is at night. Besides, you've been tense for the last few days. You could use some relaxation."

"Oh? And going into town with you is going to help me relax?" I ducked easily out from under his grasp.

"Well . . . I'll be calm, I promise! But _please _come with me?"

"Fine, Lavi," I laughed. "Since when do I ever say no to your weird excursions anyway?"

"Never!" he nearly sang. "Kanda, do you want to come?"

"Tch. Why would I ever want to go with you two lunatics? I'm going to bed." The Japanese slammed his chopsticks on the table and stormed out of the room.

"Wow," Lavi sighed dramatically. "Talk about bipolar. Anyone else want to come?"

"My teeth hurt," Krory mumbled again, as Miranda said, "I'm quite tired out for the day."

"I'll have to pass, Lavi," Komui admitted.

Teidoll didn't even hear.

It was always this way. Every time we went into town, everyone refused to go with us. I had no idea why; perhaps it was because they wanted us to have fun by ourselves. Everyone knew Lavi and I were best friends.

But the real reason, I was sure, was because no one trusted the outside world anymore. Not after the Millennium Earl nearly destroyed it, made it something barbaric. Not after our loved ones had been killed in that wide space. Lavi, Kanda, and I were the only ones who had truly come to terms with what had happened last year, on my sixteenth birthday. The rest of them had never stepped a foot outside of headquarters since that day.

And the worst part? I could see the fear in their eyes whenever we even mentioned leaving our safe haven. It didn't matter if all of the akuma were gone, or if all of the Noah had been destroyed. To them, there was still something horrific about the place we called home.

And I pitied them.


	2. Let's Go Train?

**Wow; I never expected to get so many reviews on this story! Thanks so much, and I'll try to update as often as I can. This story is going to be a lot of fun. Also, if anyone has any ideas for this story, let me know. I'd be glad to extend this story for some requests. Enjoy the chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man, not at all.**

I wasn't sure about walking into the training rooms. I hadn't been inside of them for a couple of months now, and I'd learned a long time ago not to disturb Kanda when he was in there. Then again, it seemed too awkward to knock, and so I just crept inside, more or less willing myself to sneak in instead of announcing myself.

"Moyashi," I heard, from somewhere inside. "Is it really necessary to hide? I asked you to practice with me."

"Eh . . . sorry, Kanda." I relaxed, now that our . . . introduction was over. I walked further into the room, trying to find out exactly where he was hiding. I finally found him, in the largest of the spaces available to us. It wasn't so hard to guess why; when Kanda and I fought with each other, we could practically destroy the entire Order.

But Kanda was not raring to fight, as I thought he would be. Instead, he was sitting in the middle of the floor with Mugen lying in his lap. His cobalt eyes were closed, and his hair fell over his shoulder. I bit my lip to stifle the gasp I felt coming. He was meditating, and he looked so . . .

"Is it necessary to stare?" Kanda demanded, without opening his eyes.

"Huh?"

"Tch. Stupid Moyashi." And then he opened his eyes, to stare at me with those striking, glaring eyes.

"I'm not a Moyashi. I'm Allen."

"Haven't you given up that charade yet? It's not going to work."

"One of these days you'll slip." I grinned and sat down beside him. "You'll accidentally say Allen, and then I'll laugh. It's not like you're perfect."

"Keep dreaming," Kanda muttered, and then closed his eyes again.

"Did we come in here to practice or not?" I demanded. "Or are you going to sleep all day?"

"No. Actually, this was a meeting place. But just be patient for a few minutes."

I sighed in annoyance and stared down at the floor of the training room. It was dirty. Not like it had been recently used; more like it _hadn't _been used in awhile. And suddenly I wondered . . .

"Kanda?"

He grunted, and although I didn't know if that meant I could go on or not, I did anyway. "You don't come in here to practice, do you?"

The Japanese opened one eye to cock at me. "What?"

"The floor has dust all over it. You haven't been practicing, have you?" I frowned. "If you don't practice, then what do you do all day? I mean—"

"Moyashi, shut up."

I clamped my lips shut. When Kanda acquired that dangerous voice, I knew not to mess with him. It was too risky.

The eye closed once more. "Quit asking questions or I'll kick you out."

That I didn't want. Reluctantly I returned my own eyes to the floor, using my finger to draw in the dust.

It was half an hour before Kanda was done meditating. By that time I had propped myself up on the wall and was beginning to drift off to sleep, absolutely bored out of my mind. However, one word of, "Moyashi," had me up in about half a second. Every time Kanda said that name, no matter how much I hated it, my heart began to pound even more. "Let's go," Kanda grumbled.

"But where are we going?" I stood up, glaring at Kanda.

"You'll see." He cocked his head to the door, making sure I knew to follow, and then he promptly stalked out of the room.

"Hey! BaKanda, wait!" I ran after him frantically. No matter how rude he was being, I simply refused to let him out of my sight.

To my ultimate surprise, Kanda was waiting just outside of the training rooms. He straightened out from where he had been leaning against the wall . . . and _smiled._

Involuntarily my mouth dropped down as I gaped at him. Kanda . . . Kanda Yu . . . _Kanda Yu had just smiled._ If that wasn't enough to freeze someone's brain, then I didn't know what else would do it. My thoughts turned irrational as I witnessed this . . . almost to the point where I was denying that I _had _seen it.

"Tch. Moyashi, if you stand like that for much longer, someone is going to take you for a gasping fish." Again, Kanda smiled. This time, however, it was more of a satirical smirk. The typical Kanda.

"But you just—"

"I _know _what I did. And don't get used to it. But . . . only you, Baka Moyashi." The end of this was a mere whisper, perhaps an attempt to hide the desperate words from me. But I heard the emotion in them. Was it possible . . . did Kanda feel something for me, like I did?

"Eh?!"

"Let's go." Kanda stalked off again, ignoring my outburst.

Lavi seemed to materialize from nothing in the next moment, as I was struggling to keep up with Kanda's long strides. But my companion apparently had no fancies to stop for him, and surprisingly, Lavi didn't try and stop him. Instead, he just smiled and winked at me before walking off in the opposite direction.

And then, even more surprisingly, Kanda halted so fast that I ran into his back, nose first. And while I couldn't deny that I enjoyed the contact, it didn't feel so nice afterwards. "Hey!"

"Baka Usagi," Kanda called out emotionlessly.

Lavi froze and then turned around. By this time, he was already pretty far down the hall, so he had to walk back to talk without yelling. "What is it, Yu?"

"You sure this is going to work?"

"There's no guarantee. But it'll definitely start something."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

And, typically of Kanda though much less of Lavi, they ignored me. "I still don't see why you have to be so nosy."

"I just want to help. It's nice to have some excitement around here."

Kanda sighed. I was so confused; either they were talking in riddles or I was absolutely blind to something. It was increasingly awkward to be standing in between them, too. It was even more awkward when Kanda said, ever so quietly, "Thank you, Lavi." He whirled around. "Let's go, Moyashi."

"Um . . . but—"

"I'll leave you!" he threatened again.

"Have a good time, Allen!" Lavi called after me as I took off after Kanda yet again.

I pursed my lips in confusion. First they were talking about things I had no idea about, and then Lavi started wishing me a good time . . . this was getting weirder by the moment. Suddenly, I became convinced that something was going on that I was unaware of.

"Kan-da!" I complained, drawing out his name so that it would sound sulky. "Slow down! This is no fun when I can't even keep up with you!"

Apparently, he was back to the usual Kanda, because he didn't show any acknowledgment that he had heard me. And if my eyes hadn't deceived me, he started walking faster.

"Kanda!"

And then, quite abruptly, we were outside. It was my turn to stop in my tracks as I looked around in confusion. Kanda was not usually one for going outside either, though he wasn't scared about it like the rest of them. I frowned and glanced around at the street below us. "Moyashi," Kanda said quietly.

"Yes?"

"Do you trust me?"

The question was blunt, emotionless . . . but somehow I sensed a deep meaning behind it. I couldn't make a joke out of this, nor did I want to. I supposed it was only logical to have to think about it before I answered, but I didn't have to. I knew the answer as soon as he asked the question. "Yes," I said firmly. "Yes, Kanda, I trust you."

"Good. I'm glad."

"Kanda?"

"What?"

"What about you?"

"Tch. You shouldn't even have to ask that question. So I'm not going to answer. Come on, we're going for a walk."

"A walk?" I nearly hyperventilated. A walk with Kanda? What was going on?

"Yes, Moyashi, a walk. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No. It's just . . . weird, is all."

"Well, that's only because you're making it weird. Come on." Kanda moved to start walking, but then he paused, glancing back at me, then down. I was confused for just a moment before he walked over to me.

And took my hand in his.

**O.o it's so much fun writing in Allen's point of view. If anyone is annoyed by that, let me know. But anyway, I plan on updating this pretty frequently. Hopefully I can extend this into having some sort of a plot, but for right now, let's just give Allen and Kanda a big push towards each other, neh? **

**Review if you like it! I love hearing your opinions of the story.**


	3. Don't Say You Love Me

**Blah. I love how I'm typing this chapter up when I'm supposed to be doing a paper on some old English play. It's due tomorrow, too. And yet, I feel the sudden urge to write a chapter of my fanfic. Haha, I'm such a procrastinator. You'd think once I started college I'd be better with that problem. But nope. **

**Also, everyone seems fine with the POV, so we'll leave Allen's mind a factor in this. :D **

**Let's see how long I can make this chapter. Aiming for 2k words, because right now I feel like my chapters are a little short. But hey, I'm still getting used to this site, so I'll get it down soon! **

**Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man is the property of Katsura Hoshino. **

Did Kanda say a gasping fish? No. Now I knew my mouth was open wide enough to probably fit Bookman inside. Kanda Yu, emotionless, grumpy, slaughter happy Kanda Yu, had just taken my hand in a fit of kindness. I was so startled that I practically jumped out of my skin. Luckily my reaction was to grip Kanda's hand more tightly instead of pulling away, because I was sure that if I had, he would have thrown a fit and stomped back inside.

"K-Kanda!" I stuttered, trying to get over my shock. I stared down at our hands. We were not gripping very tightly, but as I watched, he slowly laced his fingers in between mine.

"This is alright, isn't it?" Kanda asked gruffly. Obviously he was still too stiff to sound nice, but the fact that Kanda was asking if this was okay made me warm up to him even more. I squeezed his hand and nodded, not willing myself to say anything else. If I had, my voice probably would have squeaked just like a little girl's.

"Let's go, then, Moyashi." He turned right, towards the woodlands at the end of a dead end road, and began to walk.

"You aren't going to walk fast again, are you?" I demanded. "I could hardly keep up with you."

"Moyashi, do you really think I was walking fast just to do it? I wanted to get out before that stupid rabbit showed up. But obviously that didn't work. Now shut up for awhile."

Shut up? That was a huge change from the almost caring demeanor he'd just showed. But hey, it was Kanda, as bipolar as ever. And I was sure that if I had tried to contradict him, he would have yanked his hand away. So I shut up.

We walked in complete silence until we were about half a mile into the woods. Kanda did walk slow, and, strange as it was, I had gotten the strange urge to start swinging my hand. It was an impulse, really; our hands were just kind of hanging there, between our sides. We'd made the move, but it was like we had no idea what to do after that. I sincerely thought that Kanda would think it childish of me to want to do something like that, but I couldn't resist. And so I didn't.

Kanda said absolutely nothing. But after a short moment, without a single change to his expression, I felt his hand swinging along with mine, in a rhythmic motion. I grinned faintly at this.

That gesture made the silence more companionable instead of awkward and forced. When our hands were still, we'd been walking close enough to where our arms reached each other, but that was about it. When we started swinging, our bodies automatically shifted closer to each other. Close enough for me to see just how shiny Kanda's hair really was, to see how feminine his features were. It was so unusual . . .

We spent a few more minutes in silence before Kanda slowed down his walking pace even more. He tilted his head over to look at me, and he said seriously, "We need to talk about a few things."

I nodded firmly. If our clasped hands had anything to do with this conversation, then I was sure this had to be discussed. "Right."

"Moyashi. Things are . . . lonely around here now."

I glanced down at the ground as we continued to walk. "You mean without the others? The Order isn't the same anymore. It's not as friendly, not at all. I guess one of the reasons is because . . . Lenalee is never here to welcome us home. Reever is never conspiring with Komui over some stupid experiment. It just . . ." I shook my head. "It's not the same."

"But we have nowhere else to go."

"No. I can't ever leave. There's nothing I want to do. I just want to be an Exorcist. And the only way to even try is to stay at the Order."

"Mm." Kanda stopped walking, abruptly. And as soon as I belatedly halted, I felt his free hand touch my chin, pulling my face up so that I could face him. "Moyashi. Did you ever love Lenalee?"

I stared at him, puzzled. "Why is everyone asking me that question all of a sudden? I never loved Lenalee like that. But Lavi did."

"But Lenelee loved you. She never once glanced at Lavi. Did you know that?"

Mutely, I shook my head.

"Tch. And you wonder why she sacrificed her life for you." Kanda let go of my face and continued walking. "She loved you, Allen. And I'm the only one she confided that to. She wanted me to tell you."

"But you never did," I accused.

"No."

"Why?"

Kanda fell silent once again. I felt that I had hit a bad button for once, but this was one conversation I was not going to let go. I wanted to know why Kanda didn't tell me about this while Lenalee was still alive. This was unfair!

"BaKanda, tell me! This isn't something you should have hidden! I . . . she wouldn't have sacrificed herself for me if she had known that I didn't share her feelings! Why did you hide that from me?"

"Because," he said harshly. "Because I was jealous."

I froze and jerked my hand out of his. "What?"

"I was jealous, Moyashi!" Kanda turned to face me. His eyes were blazing with an emotion I had never seen before. As a matter of fact, I had never seen _any _emotion in his eyes before . . . it was beautiful, even if it was anger I was seeing. A desperate rage. "I was jealous because I thought that you would get her. I didn't think you gave any thought to me. Of course it was selfish; it's not like you were gay. Hell, _I'm _not gay. But there was something about you. And when I thought Lenalee would get you and not me, I hated it. I didn't want you running your pretty little head in my direction. It was all just jealousy!"

"Wow," I mused quietly. "I've _never _seen you rant like that; it wasn't even in denial."

"Moyaashi, don't make a joke out of this!"

"I'm not, Kanda," I sighed. "Listen . . . I never looked twice at Lenalee, and maybe she did the same to Lavi. I don't know what I did to get her hooked onto me, but by the end, I'll admit it was a little annoying. Kanda, I . . . I only ever had eyes for you. But I was too scared to let you know. Because I sure didn't think you were gay, and I knew you hated me. So I thought . . ."

"Tch. Stupid Moyashi." Kanda moved forward, obviously hesitant. But in the next moment, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled my head to his chest. By now, I'd learned not to be shocked. Kanda would do whatever his impulse told him to, and this, again, was obviously spur of the moment. I relaxed into the gentle embrace, wrapping my arms around his waist in return. "Is the reason you've been so down lately because of this?"

"It might be a small reason," I reluctantly admitted. "A big one, actually."

"You won't even argue with me. Which makes it even more boring over there."

"Kanda. I only argued with you so that . . . um. So that I could talk to you. Because I never get to actually talk to you. I just . . . yell at you. But I thought it would be better than not talking to you at all." I felt bad, admitting all of my concerns at once. But he was doing the same thing, and so I had to do it before the moment passed. Before I was too chicken to do anything else. It shamed me that Kanda had to be the one to initiate this entire talk. I was too shy to come up to him any other time.

"Moyashi, do you doubt yourself? Because it makes you look really weak."

"That's a mean thing to say," I huffed. "I'm mad at myself for not getting the courage to do this before . . . everything happened."

"What's done is done, Moyashi. They're dead, they're gone. They don't want us to long for them, or to think too highly of them. It's a curse we have for living in a world where wishing for a loved one brings them back in the wrong way. So stop sniveling like a little brat."

"How come you give a poetic speech and always ruin it in the end?" I pouted.

"Tch. Because I can't sound entirely poetic. People would think I'm getting soft."

"You're not getting soft." I smiled up at him. "You're just making room for another person in that cold, lifeless heart of yours."

"You think it's cold and lifeless?"

"I think it was." My arms tightened around him. "But . . . if you let me in, it'll be warmer. Maybe just a little."

"You say some really cheesy things sometimes, do you know that?" Kanda pried me off of him and took my hand again. "Let's keep walking."

We lapsed into silence again. But it was natural, I think. There wasn't much to say. Kanda was the silent type. He preferred to speak with actions rather than words. And over the past year, words were spoken between all of us less and less. Though there would be people, the halls of the Order were becoming quiet once more. I hated it. But there was no way to fix the broken hearts, to put back the missing pieces.

And suddenly, I felt the strongest urge to talk. To just talk. To banish that emptiness, at least for a few moments. At least here with Kanda. Because Kanda was the only one who didn't want to talk about the deaths of our friends and loved ones. Other than me, he was the only one who had gotten over it.

"Kanda, I—"

"Don't say you love me, Moyashi."

I froze. He'd read my mind, to be honest. I'd wanted to say it to start a conversation, but apparently it wasn't going to work.

We stopped walking yet again. "Don't say you love me," he repeated. "Because you have to be entirely sure before you do. It's that important. Don't love me because I'm the only one left for you to love. Love me because I'm me. Got that, idiot?"

"Uh . . . yeah."

"But," he continued, with a mysteriously maniacal grin, "you can sure as hell say you like me, because that's just obvious. Go ahead and say it."

"But that sounds so . . . childish!"

"You still look like a child, so it shouldn't be a problem for you."

I sighed. "Fine. I like you a lot, Kanda."

"Great. So do I." So he leaned forward and kissed me, full on the mouth.

It was a gentle kiss, one not filled with passion but with pure love. In that moment, I didn't understand why Kanda had told me not to love him. Because I knew that he loved me with every ounce of his heart. I circled my arms around him once more, hugging him as I returned the soft kiss. This was nothing like that disgustingly short kiss Road had given me at the Ark. I knew this was so much different. This kind of kiss, I could take.

"Moyashi," Kanda murmured as we pulled away.

"Hmm?"

"Don't die. Don't die like the others. I don't think I could get over your death."

My eyes widened. "Kanda—"

"Shh. Are we going to keep going with our walk, or are we going to stand here gossiping? I have better things to do."

I sighed. We were back to the cold Kanda. But this emotion filled Kanda was hard for me to wrap my head around for the moment, so this was easier. "Let's walk. I'm not ready to go back to the Order yet."

He took my hand once again, and we walked off, through the trees.

Silent once again.

**I've got an actual plot for this story now; it should be starting in the next chapter sometime. Hey look, I overreached my goal; I've got over 2k words! Yes! This was a very fun chapter to come up with. I hope you enjoyed it! **


	4. An Exorcist Needs a Coat

**Chapter four is here! I won't waste time typing out this intro; I'll just get right to it. But thanks to everyone for all the reviews on this; I'm really excited that everyone likes it. **

**Disclaimer: DGM is the property of Katsura Hoshino. **

Kanda would ever let pride get the best of him. I knew that from the time I first met him, that night I was almost taken for an Akuma. So I knew that once we got back to Headquarters, he would throw me away like we hadn't done anything. I was prepared for this, resigned to it, even. It was just in Kanda's nature.

So imagine my surprise when, instead of letting a sense of dignity get to him, he beasted it. He marched through the front gate without letting go of my hand, straight to lunch in the dining hall. And, even more surprisingly, he held onto my hand after we sat down. It was awkward for me, almost worse than denying that we had any feelings for each other. Because the entire table was staring at us, with the exception of Lavi. And that idiot was grinning so brightly you would have thought he was the sun. I smiled hesitantly at the other tenants of the table. Kanda, however, completely blew them off.

"Um . . . hello, Allen," Miranda hesitantly spoke up. "How was training?"

"Actually, we didn't—"

"It went well, obviously," Kanda retorted, cutting me short. I bit my lip to hold in my laughter; apparently he wasn't throwing enough dignity aside to admit that we'd taken a walk. "Right, Moyashi?"

"Eh . . . yeah. Right."

"What kind of training is that?" Teidoll demanded, his drawing pad set to the side for once. "Yu, what has my son been doing with Allen?"

"Tch. I can't take this interrogation. If you want to know, let the Moyashi tell you." Without eating, Kanda let go of my hand and stormed out of the dining hall. I frowned in confusion, ignoring the fact that everyone's eyes were now focused on me.

"It was nothing you should concern yourself with," I sighed. "It's personal. Right now, anyway."

"But—" Miranda began, but I shook my head and cut her off.

"Please. No more questions about it. What's for lunch, anyway?"

Komui was the only one who seemed willing to let the matter slide. "We don't have much left from your last grocery run, Allen, so you need to go and buy some more. But we managed to save a couple dangos for you."

"Yes!" I hissed, reaching for the sweet sticks that had long since become a luxury to me. My excitement over the dessert made everyone forget about the Kanda thing for the moment, and I relished that fact to momentarily relax. But I knew the time for explaining would come. There was new gossip around the Order. There was finally something important enough to care about. And I was quite glad to offer that to my friends. The chance to come alive again.

I couldn't sleep that night; my head was filled with thoughts of the day's events. Kanda reaching for my hand, Kanda kissing me . . . they seemed like a dream now, like a long lost fantasy. It was strange. And now I was questioning the fact that it really had happened. That, I didn't want.

Very quietly I rose from my bed and stepped over Lavi, who had fallen asleep on the floor sometime earlier. I straightened out my bed clothes; I was wearing a pair of loose sweats and a tank top. Once I did, I crept out of my room, my bare feet padding down the hallway as I headed for the room I had only ever seen from a distance. There was no sleeping until my brain was at rest, and this was the only thing I could think of doing that would help with that problem.

I knocked on Kanda's door quietly, hesitant about waking him. From past experience, he was immensely grumpy when he was awakened against his will. But instead of a very angry Kanda, all I heard was a soft grunt that signified that I could come in. So I pushed open the door and stepped inside to shut the door behind me. Then I leaned back against the wood and looked down at the Japanese man, who was laying on his mattress on the floor, staring groggily at me. "I couldn't sleep," I explained softly.

I received no vocal reply, but Kanda shifted over to the side of his bed, pushing the blankets down. I was shocked by this, having fully expected to either be turned away or told to sleep on the floor. Before I could convince myself that I was dreaming and needed to return to my own room, I swiftly slipped in between the covers with him. I rolled onto my side and shut my eyes, finally convinced that I had not been dreaming.

An arm fell heavily over my body, circling around my waist and drawing me closer to Kanda. I looked over as the samurai said quietly, "I couldn't either."

"I—"

"Shush. No talking. If you came in here to sleep, then sleep." The blue eyes shut again.

"Mm." I relaxed into Kanda's embrace, squeezing my head onto the same pillow that he was using. His body was warm next to mine, warming my colder form until I was comfortable enough to fall fully asleep.

Sometime the next morning I woke to the sound of someone knocking on the door. I had a moment of complete confusion when I opened my eyes to the sight of black, but after a short second I realized that it was just Kanda's hair, falling around me. Kanda had moved over sometime during the night, and now he was lying on top of me, his head against my chest. At the knock on the door, he groaned faintly and muttered out a "What?" without moving in the slightest.

The door creaked open to reveal a tired-looking Lavi. "Thought you'd be in here, Allen," he muttered hoarsely. "Listen, we were supposed to go buy food today, but I don't feel good, so . . . will Kanda go with you?"

I glanced down to see Kanda's reply. He sighed quietly and pulled the blanket over his head, nearly covering me with it as well. "Fine. Later."

Lavi grinned momentarily at me. "Comfortable, Allen?"

"Go away, Baka Usagi," Kanda grumbled without waiting for me to answer.

Lavi nodded slightly, grinned yet again, and left.

"Kanda," I sighed. "Seriously, you can't be comfortable like that."

"Tch, you're right. You're way too skinny to be comfortable. But I'm too lazy to move." He shifted slightly, moving to his side. After a moment he closed his eyes again, to fall back to sleep.

"Kanda! We're supposed to go get food!"

"Later. It's not like they're going to starve."

I fell quiet, because . . . well, he was right. And he was lying, because as skinny as I was, Kanda seemed very relaxed in his position on top of me. So either he was still tired or he didn't want to move, and I believed it was the latter of the two. Kanda wasn't the type to openly express a display of caring, but he would do it in subtle ways. That I was sure. And it was one of the things I admired most about the samurai.

It was another hour and a half before we got up. It was nothing unusual; Kanda just rolled off of me and sat up, nonchalantly pulling his hair back into its ponytail. "Let's go, Moyashi," he announced.

"Um . . . but Kanda, I need to change. I can't go out there like this; it's cold."

With a sharp roll of his eyes, Kanda walked over to his closet and threw two items at me. The first was a simple black shirt, long-sleeved. I slipped it over my head curiously. It was big on me, but comfortably so. I pulled the sleeves down past my hands until they covered most of my fingers. It was so long that it came down almost to my knees.

The second item was a coat . . . and Exorcist coat, to be exact. "Kanda!" I exclaimed in surprise. "I didn't know you had one! How did you . . ." All of our coats had been virtually destroyed in the final battle, and since Johnny was . . . gone, we didn't have anyone else to make them for us. I still had the remnants of mine, but it wasn't wearable anymore.

"That one was never torn," Kanda murmured. "When Komui sent out the new uniforms, this one was still fine. So I kept it. Put it on."

"But you should cherish it," I whispered. "It's important."

"Moyashi, I said you could wear it. I don't care."

So Kanda wanted me to wear it. I didn't understand his reasoning behind it, but it was obvious that the coat would mean more to him if I wore it. So I pulled the too long sleeves over my arms, zipping it up so that the hem just barely brushed against the ground instead of dragging. It felt . . . familiar, comfortable to me. To wear a piece of our past. I stood there quietly for a moment, disregarding Kanda. I needed to be an Exorcist. I ached to be one. But just sitting around at a ghost home of an Order was not doing anything for me. Kanda was making me finally feel alive again, but that didn't mean I didn't feel lazy. I did.

It was lonely.

Kanda frowned and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the room. I couldn't help but to laugh at this; if I didn't know any better, I'd say he was _pouting_.

"What's so funny?"

"It's nothing. Hey . . . Kanda?"

"What?" he demanded.

I hesitated. Would he think it was stupid? But then again, Kanda thought everything was stupid, so I had to give it a chance. "Can we . . . make a date out of this?"

"A date?" Kanda stopped. "Moyashi, just how old do you think you are? A _date_?"

I cast my eyes downward, at the hem of Kanda's Exorcist coat.

"If you're going to whine about it, then I have to say yes. No one wants to see a seventeen-year-old whining like a little kid."

"That's mean," I accused.

"We'll make a date out of it," he murmured, this time with sincerity.

I glanced up at him, a wide grin creeping along my face. "Thank you, Kanda!"

"Tch. Let's get going before they get mad at us for making them miss lunch too."

**Okay, so I lied. Plot starts in the next chapter, not this one. This one was very much fluffy. :D But it was a lot of fun to write, and I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to everyone who's keeping up with the story, and hopefully you'll see some action pop up soon. Because I have some planned! Finally have an idea of where this is going. This story shall **_**not **_**be pointless! **

**Anyway, please review!**


	5. Sucked Into the Black Hole

**Sorry for the late update; I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to work on it. I love my Tuesdays, though; only one afternoon class and a tutor session (me being the tutor). Still, I spend most of my Tuesday sleeping, which is why I don't get to update that often . . . ah, the joys of being a college student, lol. **

**Anyway, even though a lot of people said they like this story without a plot, I simply can't keep going without one. My creative writing head is taking over at this point. So the plot comes up in this chapter, but don't worry; since everyone seems to like the cuteness factor, I'm going to keep that up throughout. **

**Also, this is going to sound funny, but can someone **_**please **_**tell me how to beta someone's work? I have a friend requesting a beta from me, but she doesn't know how to request it, and frankly, I have no idea either.**

**Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man is the property of Hoshino Katsura**

"Ugh," Kanda complained grumpily. "Does fish always smell this bad?"

"Kanda," I sighed. "How many times have you completed a mission near the sea?"

"I don't pay attention to the smell of _fish _when I'm in the middle of a mission!"

I smirked at Kanda's annoyed frown and wrinkled nose. Perhaps he himself didn't realize it, but he looked absolutely _hot _with a face that scrunched up. Though I did wish he would smile more. Even after the war, Kanda had retained that grumpy, snobby look of pride on his face. Perhaps it was habit, or perhaps it was just the way he was raised, I didn't know. But I ached to pull him away from that demeanor, even if it would only be directed at me.

"So," I continued, completely ignoring the fish conversation, "besides soba, is there anything else you want to eat? You never come with me, so I can never get anything to your likings."

"Tch. That's a stupid question. Do you ever see me eating anything other than soba?"

"No. But you need to expand your appetite a bit more, in my opinion." I stuck a finger up in front of his face, just to make sure he knew that I was serious. "You're not going to be very healthy later in life if all you eat is soba. Do you want to get old and look like Bookman did?"

"Ugh." Indecision showed in the samurai's eyes; I'd gotten to him. "Ramen?" he asked hopefully.

"That's still noodles, you idiot."

"Then get something for me you think I'll like, because I don't know. And don't you dare get me any of those dangos you're so obsessed with."

"Are you kidding?" I nearly spat. "Those are _mine_. What about sushi?"

"No! No raw fish!"

I laughed at him and turned to walk further into the market, pulling him along behind me. "I'll figure something out. Let's go get some meat first."

Kanda went strangely quiet after that. I watched his eyes flickering around at our surroundings dangerously, the blue a fierce shade that I hadn't seen in over a year now. The look of suspicion. "Kanda," I said quietly, tugging on his hand. "Is there something wrong?"

"Something feels wrong today," was the only reply I got.

"Then you shouldn't be looking around like that. Now _you _look suspicious."

"Hmph."

"There . . . there's the meat stall. Let's go get some."

That snapped Kanda out of his momentary funk. He walked forward, staring at the raw slabs of meat with mild disgust. "How do you people eat that? And what kinds do we get?"

"Komui insists on no pork, so we don't get that. We get chicken and beef right now. And maybe some turkey. That's those right there."

"Hello, Allen," the shop manager said. "Did you run out of food already?"

"Yes," I laughed; I knew the man fairly well. "But you know me and my appetite."

"Where is Lavi?" he asked as he passed over our usual supply of food we asked for. "He's always with you."

"Lavi? Ah, apparently he didn't feel well today. This is Kanda, by the way. He doesn't usually come out here."

The seller looked Kanda up and down critically before his eyes landed on our hands, still intertwined between us. "Your boyfriend, I presume? I never knew you leaned that way."

"I don't, not really," I replied with a blush. "Kanda's just kind of . . . different." I accepted the wrapped meat and looked at my companion questioningly. "Um . . ."

"Tch." Kanda reached forward and took the packs from me, hefting them over his shoulder with obviously no problem. "You're weak, Moyashi. Why aren't you using that arm of yours?"

I glanced down at the disfigured hand. "I don't use it for much anymore, I suppose," I sighed.

"Then you'll start practicing with me." He said it as a fact, not as a question. So I knew I had no choice in the matter. I nodded reluctantly before turning to bow at the market seller with a smile. "Thank you for your service, sir."

"It was nice to see you again, Allen Walker," he laughed. "And to meet you as well, mister Kanda. Oh—Allen, wait!"

I paused and looked back at him.

"There was a girl looking for you about half an hour ago." The seller shrugged. "I don't know why; she wouldn't tell me. She only said that she needed to find you with all haste."

Kanda's frown deepened. It was odd; I knew no one other than the sellers at the market, and I knew Miranda would never leave the confines of the Order. So I had no idea who could be looking for me, and I knew I wouldn't recognize them even if they were right in front of my face. "Kanda—"

"Let's go." His grip tightened on my hand; it was the only way I knew that he was worried about something.

"Mm. We need to get some vegetables next. You're vegetarian, aren't you?" I pushed the situation to the back of my mind, as I did during the war.

"What makes you think that?"

"A big hint is the look of disgust you gave to the meat," I said with a smirk. "And even though fish isn't technically meat, you hate the smell of that. Heck, you're Japanese and you hate sushi. I mean, you made a more disgusted face than you normally do."

"Tch. You're overanalyzing, don't you think?"

"No." I rammed my body into his, just to make a point and to annoy him even more. It was fun, being able to pick on and not meeting Mugen's blade as a result. It showed how much he really did like me, and it excited me.

Things continued on in this manner for most of the morning. There were no other signs of a girl wanting to find me, and Kanda seemed to relax the more we stayed out. Our arms were laden with bags by the time we were done, though tucked deep into my pocket was the one thing I wouldn't let him see yet: the food I said I would make him try. I had waited until he was buying his soba before grabbing it, so he had no idea I'd actually gone and bought him something different.

"Do we have everything now?" Kanda grunted, grimacing as he hefted the meat over his shoulder."

"Yep."

"I know where half of this is going. This is pitiful."

"Goes to me!" I sang with a laugh. "Hey, Kanda."

"What?"

"Thanks for coming. I know it wasn't much of a date, but . . ."

"Don't be silly, Moyashi," he whispered, where no one but me could hear him. "This was better than staying at that ratty old place."

I grinned. "That's why Lavi and I like coming out here so much. It's not claustrophobic. You should come with us sometime."

"I'll never walk around with that stupid rabbit," he declared, cold once again. "Let's go, before they all get mad at us for missing another meal."

"Right." I turned around, pulling him behind me forcefully. As I did, I nearly bumped into someone else; the streets of the market were always crowded. "Ah, sorry!" I exclaimed before continuing, paying no attention to _who _it was that I had collided with. It was always better. Even though the akuma were no more, I still didn't trust anyone outside of my little circle. It was by now the way I was raised.

Kanda, though I didn't know it, was much more observant. He stiffened, but said nothing as we continued on our way. I blew it away as aggravation of my clumsiness and thought nothing more of it.

"We got dangos, right, Kanda?"

"Yes. It's the biggest bag here." Kanda rolled his eyes at me, and I grinned back teasingly. That was the first thing we'd gone after when we were done with the vegetables.

The crowd of shoppers was getting thicker by the minute; we had to squeeze through to get further down the street. I was beginning to feel suffocated; usually Lavi would walk in front of me, so it was never a problem, but all of the stalls coupled by the myriad of people pushing us around got me the slightest bit scared. "Kanda—"

"Don't talk," he said gruffly. "Just get out of here."

I glanced back at him. Kanda looked just as scared as I felt, though he was too proud to admit it. His eyes were now flickering back and forth from side to side, shifting away from the crowd as much as he could. And he was squeezing the life out of my hand, that was for sure.

Finally we wormed our way out, but I felt like I had just pulled myself out of a black hole instead of being in the market. I sighed hugely in relief, realizing only then that I had been shaking. "That was horrible," I pouted.

"Moyashi," Kanda said simply. "We're being followed."

We turned around together to stare at the person that had crawled out of the black hole after us. And, ever so slowly, I felt my mouth drop open in utter shock, my free hand dropping the bag of groceries I so tightly held.

My eyes trailed slowly up the body standing before us. From the boots that ran up to their thighs, to the mini skirt so barely covering her, past her upper body. To the tilted green eyes staring forlornly at us. To the black hair tied into pigtails, not as long as it used to be.

My trembling started anew, and this time I made no moves to contain it. "Oh God," I whispered frightfully. "Le . . . Lenalee?"

**Ha! Didn't expect that, did you? I feel proud of myself for doing that. And no, Lenalee coming back is NOT the plot. It's the beginning of it. It's also not what you're probably thinking. To ruin any hopeful hearts, Lavi will not be with Lenalee. But I'm not going to ruin anything, lol. You'll just have to read to figure out what happens. **

**Dang, this chapter was hard to write. I knew what I wanted to put down, but coming about to doing it was killing me. And I feel like Kanda is getting too softhearted, but I read a lot of fanfictions where he's TOO mean, and I don't want to do that. Kanda does have a sensitive side after all. Even if he doesn't want to show it. This chapter was shorter than the rest, though, and I'm sorry about that. There wasn't much about buying food in the market, though. There's only so much interaction I can take between Allen and random sellers. **

**Enjoy, and review, please!**


	6. Chief Komui's Missing? Sister

**Haha! I've gotten off of my lazy butt and worked up the energy to write another chapter! I know I said I would update quicker than this, but college exams are coming up in about two weeks (along with my dreaded 19****th**** birthday), so I haven't had much time for writing. **

**On another note, I've absolutely fallen in love with the Visual Kei band Kra. The lead singer, Keiyuu, is about my height of 5'1''. And it's absolutely hilarious. So if I randomly start spouting off sentences about short cute guys in my fanfics, you know where it's coming from. I'm just warning you. **

**D. Gray-Man is the property of Katsura Hoshino.**

"Allen! Kanda!" Lenalee squealed, dashing forward to hug the both of us. However, despite it being Lenalee, I immediately pushed her away and pulled my body closer to Kanda's. Something wasn't right. That much, I knew. Something was off.

She looked upset by that movement, that was surely obvious. Immediately a pout formed on her face, and she _glared _at Kanda. "What was that for? Aren't you glad to see me?"

"What do we do?" I whispered to my _safe _companion. "Is it . . . really her?"

"Where did you come from?" Kanda demanded gruffly. Of course, that was the first thing to ascertain. If we received a very vague answer, or the question was brushed away, then this wasn't the Lenalee we knew.

However, we weren't expecting the answer we did get. Lenalee put her hand on her forehead, a look of concentration marring her features. "I don't know," she said softly. "I don't remember anything. Not after Road attacked me. All I remember is that I woke up, and I was here. So I tried to find someone from the Order. Did something happen to me?"

"This isn't right," Kanda muttered, with the frown even deeper than before. "It has to be her; she knows about the battle. But . . ."

"She was killed," I continued, firmly. "We buried her body. Or what was left of it. But still, it was recognizable as her."

"Did we ever find Lulubell?" Kanda asked, suddenly.

"No. She was the only one missing. And Road got away." And suddenly, it dawned on me. What if the Lenalee we'd thought we'd buried was really Lulubell? It was entirely possible . . . Road could have taken Lenalee into her dreams with her. After all, the little Lolita certainly had a soft spot for the "doll". I glanced at the girl in front of us with a new light. If it really was the Lee sibling we knew, then there was no reason to be ignoring her like this. But some inner instinct told me not to trust her. Even if it was really her. "Kanda . . ."

"I know. But we should take her with us anyway."

Suddenly Lenalee herself broke through our whispered conversation. She sounded kind of . . . shocked. "Are you two holding hands? You're not really . . . together, are you? Kanda, you would never . . . oh my God!" She blushed a deep red. "I had no idea you two were gay!"

"I'm not gay," Kanda huffed indignantly. "It's different."

I nodded my agreement. Definitely not gay.

"Oh, I get it." She giggled. "It's inevitable love, isn't it? I always thought that was so admirable. I mean—"

"Are you going to the Order, or are you just going to stand there gawking at us? It's rude." Kanda turned around, pulling me with him.

"Wait! We have to get the food." I turned back to pick up the groceries I had dropped. As I did, Lenalee looked at me beseechingly . . . almost traitorously. If it was really her, then I knew she was probably jealous. But I had a feeling it was something else . . .

"Moyashi!" Kanda called.

"I'm coming!" I tore my gaze away from Lenalee's and ran after Kanda to snatch his hand again. It was something I felt so much more comfortable with.

Kanda squeezed back, a gesture I wasn't expecting. He was as worried about this as I was, though he wasn't openly showing it.

But then . . . there was another issue . . .

"Kanda?" I asked.

"Hmm?"

"How is Komui going to take this?"

"We're not going to let him know."

"Then how in the world are we going to get her into Headquarters?"

He frowned, his eyes narrowing as he glanced back towards the girl walking behind us. "I don't know."

"We have to let Komui know." I said this firmly. If Komui knew that we hid his sister from him, he would be both devastated and enraged.

The samurai sighed. "Moyashi . . ."

"You know I'm right," I stubbornly insisted. "Komui would hate us for all of eternity. With any luck he'll realize that something's not right and he'll be cautious. Then again . . . it _is _Komui."

"You're right. It's Komui."

"Darn."

Kanda chuckled once, and softly. But it was amazing to hear something so . . . happy from him. I beamed up at him, but then I couldn't help but to laugh at the furious blush that blossomed on his cheeks. He was embarrassed!

"What's so funny?" he demanded, almost pouted.

"You! Why do you laugh and then blush like a fool in love?" I started laughing harder.

"Only for you," he reiterated. The blush finally left his cheeks. To my disappointment, he'd gained control of his emotions once again.

"Darn," I sighed again.

"I'll talk to Komui," I told Kanda as we approached the gates. "He'll listen to me more than you. Will you stay here with her?"

"I'd rather not," was the reluctant protest.

"Please, Kanda. We need to tell him before he sees her. So he knows to be a little bit cautious, at least."

"Don't take long." He dropped the rest of the groceries on me and then sat down on the ground, in a huff.

"Sure. I won't." I bent down to kiss him on the cheek before taking off for the dining hall.

Finding Komui was no hard task any more. He was almost always in his office. Unfortunately, this was where his true colors showed. He would sit at his _clean _desk, staring out of the window. Sometimes he missed meals doing it. There was no point in asking him what he was thinking about. We all knew.

"Um . . . Komui, can I talk to you?" I peered into the room curiously.

"Allen? Of course, come in." Komui's solemn expression turned into a welcoming smile.

"Komui, you know you don't have to fake anything around me." I shut the door behind me and sat down on the couch. "Alright. So today, when me and Kanda were in the market, we found something . . . strange."

The Chief frowned. I understood why; one of the problems we'd had after the war was taking every little thing too seriously. There was no one out there to hurt us any longer, but we didn't feel that way. Our bodies didn't feel that way. "Allen, I'm sure it wasn't—"

"No, Komui, listen to me for a minute! I'm being serious." I leaned forward, staring into his eyes firmly. "It was Lenalee. Komui, we found Lenalee."

"Don't play games with me," he replied, a little sharper than I had expected.

"No! I'm being serious, like I said! But . . . here's the thing. It could very well be Lenalee. We never found Lulubell, so the Lenalee we thought we'd buried might not have been her. This Lenalee that came to us today . . . she knows about the battle. According to her, she saw Road, and then she doesn't remember anything before coming back. However . . . there's something odd about this whole thing. Why didn't she come back sooner? And . . . she doesn't seem all that distraught about missing everyone here, which is completely unlike Lenalee." I took a deep breath. "She hasn't even mentioned you yet."

I was scared Komui was going to snap for a minute. His blank eyes stared right through me, and unseeingly out of the window. I tensed, waiting to be reprimanded again. But then . . .

"I believe you," he said quietly. "Allen Walker would never lie to me. However . . . I don't think it's the Lenalee we know. Is she reacting to you and Kanda?"

"She's enraged," I said wryly.

"At least that's the same about her." Komui sighed and rose to his feet. "She always did like you. Anyway, take me to her."

"Komui . . ."

"Hmm?"

I stood as well. "You aren't going to become happy again just because she's back, are you? Because if she turns out to be . . . not Lenalee, then it would break your heart all over again."

The former Chief of the Black Order Headquarters managed to surprise me by placing a hand on my shoulder. "Allen, you're always so kind. To think, even now, of everyone else's concerns over your own. It's all right. I know to be cautious." He smiled crookedly. "However, I can't guarantee that I won't break down as soon as I see those adorable little pigtails."

Typical Komui Lee.

"It's about time," Kanda huffed. He'd been sitting on the bottom step leading up to the gate, in the most typical position that Kanda could show. He got up, but his arms remained crossed over his chest, the usual frown in place. "What were you doing, talking about the food?"

"No." I stuck out my tongue at him.

Komui and Lenalee stood across from each other, staring silently. Komui seemed resigned to something; I wondered if he was still trying to confirm that it was not Lenalee, even though I'd told him. Lenalee just looked slightly confused. I felt my teeth clench; so far, it looked as though it would end badly. Just as well, however. If Komui turned her away, we wouldn't have to worry about the mystery of this maybe fake. Though . . . I wondered if that was the right thing to do or not.

But it was up to Komui now. I had no control over this.

Komui bowed stiffly to her, his eyes locked onto hers with a suspicious light. "Lenalee . . .?"

And then Lenalee did something that none of us were suspecting. She bowed back before straightening up and saying, in a very clueless fashion . . .

"I'm sorry." She glanced down at her feet. "But . . . am I supposed to know you?"

Time stopped.

**Okay. Now that was spur of the moment. Just saying. However, a really good plot has come to mind along with that spur of the moment thought. And now I can't wait to write the next chapter! Also, I'm sorry if it's been mostly talking for the past couple of chapters. But some of the real sense of the plot will show up in the next chapter for certain. So if you're getting bored, hopefully you won't be soon! **

**On another note, my birthday is tomorrow, and I got to eat out at Applebee's with my friends today. And my future roommate gave me an Allen keychain!!! I can guarantee I squealed like a child. Especially since I'm going as Lenalee to a Con in May. So now I can have my little chibi Allen wherever I go! **

**A note on the update times for this story. My exams are starting tomorrow as well, which means that the next time I update should be shorter. After Saturday, I won't be a college Freshman any more! But anyway, yeah. Next chapter should definitely come sooner. **

**Review, please, if you liked it or have anything to critique on!**


	7. A Red Head's Heart

**New chapter!**

**So I went back and realized that, sometime after the time I posted the chapter, my line breaks in the version of my stories disappeared. I don't know how long that's been going on, but hopefully I've fixed it. The story shouldn't be as confusing now. Sorry about that! **

**Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man is the property of Katsura Hoshino**

That night, I lay with my back pressed up against Kanda's, unable to sleep. The events outside had been so disturbing, even to the point where I couldn't enjoy the dinner we'd brought back. And Kanda hadn't said a word since, even though I knew he wasn't mad at me.

I didn't even try sleeping in my own room that night. There were too many thoughts running through my head, and unless I had some company, I thought I might be scared, as wimpy as that sounded. So when I followed Kanda back to his room that night, he didn't seem to mind; he just wordlessly lifted his blanket so that I could crawl under it. Even with the company, though, I couldn't bring myself to dreamland. It felt like there were a thousand ants crawling through my brain all at once.

Lenalee did not recognize her own brother. We knew it was her now. Immediately after the awkward silence Kanda and I had radiated, Komui had sat his little sister down and asked her if she remembered General Cross Marian. When her reply was no, it spurred all of us into action. We started spouting off random names of people from the Order . . . people who were precious to her. Tapp. Johnny. Reever. Miranda. Krory. We kept shooting them off, but in confusion, the girl shook her head time and time again. The only people she remembered were me and Kanda.

She had no recollection of Lavi.

I knew, now, that this was Road's doing. I wondered if she had broken Lenalee's heart . . . broke it and tore everyone precious to her out of her life. But then, why were Kanda and I, the two exorcists she cared for the most, the ones she remembered? It didn't make any sense . . . until it was pointed out that Road was spying on us.

I knew she wanted revenge on me, for killing the Earl and harming Tyki. For Kanda, however, I had no idea. And that fact screwed up our entire reasoning.

For now, Lenalee was residing in her old quarters. No one other than Kanda, Komui, and me knew about her existence. We had no intentions of spreading the news until the following morning. I felt bad for Lavi, whom loved Lenalee. When he found out about her missing memory, he would be devastated. I never wanted to see a look so hurtful on Lavi's face again.

"Moyashi," Kanda murmured sleepily.

My eyes flashed open and shifted over to Kanda's back. "Hmm?"

"Quit worrying and get some sleep."

"Sorry. I just . . . I'm scared of what might happen. And . . . excited."

"Excited that the little witch girl is still alive?"

"Yeah." I rolled onto my back, staring up at the ceiling. "Because if she is alive, then at least we can become Exorcists. One more time."

"You sound like a martyr."

"I feel like one."

"There's more to life than fighting," he said, so quietly I almost didn't hear.

My eyes widened with those words. This was _Kanda _I was talking to. A samurai in disguise, I was sure. But Kanda had just told me something I never thought I'd hear come out of his mouth. And the thing was . . . I knew that this time, he was telling the truth. "Like what?" I whispered. "It's all I know . . . all I was raised to know. Unless you want me to become a gambler later on in life."

"I'll dump you if you do," he growled.

I laughed.

"I'm not planning on wasting the rest of my life in this place with a sad old chief and a baka usagi. I'm gonna get out of here. And I hope you'll come with me."

"I'll go anywhere you go," I answered automatically. I would follow Kanda to the ends of the earth if I had to. I wasn't going to lose anyone else I loved. Especially him.

"But yeah," he continued. "I'm damn excited. So get some sleep, because we're gonna work our butts training tomorrow."

"Kanda—"

A strong arm grabbed me and yanked me up against his side, nearly crushing me. Lips touched mine once, and softly. "Night, Moyashi," he said.

"Good night, Kanda." I snuggled up against him, my mind finally at ease. Grumpy as he was, he still knew how to make everything better.

**-break-**

"Ow! Dammit, Kanda, you keep this up and I'll be limping for the rest of my life!"

"Tch . . . you're out of shape, moyashi. Face it."

"Not out of . . . shape," I huffed. "Just . . . hungry. Okay, okay. Take a break."

"Out of shape," Kanda repeated.

"Shut up." I slumped down against the wall, breathing heavily. I didn't bother to deactivate my Innocence. Instead I just let the huge sword fall to the floor with a frown. Kanda was right. I'd neglected my training, thinking that since we wouldn't have any more fights, it was pointless to try and exercise my body anymore. I would have to make an effort to start warming up every morning again.

Kanda towered over me, the residential scowl in place on his chiseled face. "Wimp," he taunted.

"We've been going at it for the past three hours; we haven't even stopped to eat yet! And you call me a wimp," I pouted. "I'm starving!"

"No food until you land your first hit. You haven't touched me once."

I frowned again and stared down pitifully at my blade. "Sorry, Innocence," I sighed, just to annoy Kanda. "Looks like we'll have to brave through this one."

Kanda kicked the sword into my hand, with a fierce, "Up!"

"But—"

"No. Up."

"Kanda's hungry too, then," I smirked as I wearily pulled my body upright. I took my stance, holding my weapon out in front of me with the tip pointed straight at my opponent. "We'll have to make this quick."

"You can try," came the samurai's cold voice. "But wishing you good luck isn't going to help anything."

And finally, _finally_, I got into the mood to fight Kanda. Here, in the training rooms, was when my angry side truly came out. When I could forget the relationships I had with other people. Here, I was fierce, barbaric, and willing to do whatever I could to win.

It just took a minute for me to remember that.

I waited for Kanda to attack. Always let the enemy attack first . . . everything was coming back to me as I watched this battle unfold. Quite calmly, I pulled my mask over my head, peering at Kanda through the two little slits in the clown. As Kanda shot his insects at me, I merely whisked my cloak around my body, letting them bounce off of the innocence.

Then it was my turn to counterattack. I yelled out a fierce battle cry and leaped forward, using the cloak to mask the fact that I was using Clown Belt to propel myself forward. I thought for certain that Kanda would see through this. After all, it was Kanda. But as I swung forward, I had to stop myself from taking off my opponent's head. Instead, I swiftly changed directions so that the blade of my sword hit his shoulder instead of his neck. "Beat you!" I sang, deactivating my innocence. "Kanda, you're gettingold!"

A soft giggle from behind us made me turn around. "Kanda, you're falling behind," Lenalee laughed. "You used to be so much better than that."

Kanda's eyes narrowed. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Just long enough to see Allen beat you." The Chinese girl smiled at us and sat down. "May I watch?"

"Actually, we were just about to go and get something to eat," I said quickly. "So we'll see you later."

Lenalee frowned a little as I snatched Kanda's hand and pulled him out of the training room. We walked in silence for a few moments before Kanda glanced back down the hallway. "Do you think she followed us?"

"No. It looks like her mind is still . . . hers, but we don't know if Road is spying through her." I stopped walking and turned around to face my companion. "Kanda, Road could have purposefully sent her here to see just how well we can still fight, and if we're a match for her. And if that's the case . . ."

"She's going to find out that now is the best time for her to attack. Moyashi, unless there are akuma involved, you and I are the only ones that can fight her. Lavi's hammer is gone."

"However," I said quietly. "You've seen Lenalee's feet, haven't you?"

Kanda's eyes widened. Obviously, he had not been paying attention. "She still has her innocence?"

I nodded grimly. "Kanda, if we can bring her heart back, we can also have her to fight for us. But as long as we keep ignoring her, Road will take advantage of her."

Suddenly, Kanda snorted, glancing up at the ceiling. "Funny, but we don't even know if it's Road we're up against. Or if we're up against anyone, for that manner. We always assume the worst."

"That's because we're Exorcists," I laughed. "And with the things that happened with the Earl, it's only natural for us to think that way. At least, that's the way I see it. We're all pessimists, in a way. Although . . . you're a lot more of a pessimist than anyone else I know."

"Thanks," he replied sarcastically.

"But anyway, I just have this weird feeling that it _is _Road. Who else could it be? The rest of them are dead; Tyki even changed sides before he died. The only one who's alive is Road. And who else would try to attack an Order that is basically no more?"

"Well, if you have a feeling, then you're probably right." Kanda rolled his eyes. "I don't know how you do it. Anyway, does Komui know about that assumption?"

"I told him about it yesterday, and he just said to be prepared for the worst." I looked down at my feet. "He's not taking this so well. He understands that Road probably played with Lenalee's heart, but it's like he doesn't want to believe it. He wants her to remember him." I glanced up at Kanda once more. "But maybe that's a good thing, because I know he's going to try to do whatever he can to regain her heart."

"You're right. If anything, we all know Komui is stubborn."

A door flew open down the hall. As I turned to look, Lavi burst out in front of us and started to take off, pausing only when he noticed the two of us standing there alone. "Did you hear?" he demanded. "About Lenalee?"

"Of course we heard; we brought her back. But Lavi, wait—"

"I have to see her! If she's—"

"Lavi!" Kanda barked. "You need to stop and think for a minute!"

Lavi froze, obviously confused about Kanda's odd outburst. But he and I both knew it was the only way to stop Lavi from falling into Road's trap. "What . . .?"

"Why do you think Lenalee is here, Lavi?" I asked gently. "We should have told you earlier. Lenalee only remembers Kanda and me. We think . . . Road broke her heart." I walked forward and grabbed Lavi's shoulder. "But that's why we need your help, Lavi. If you can get Lenalee to remember you, we may be able to get Road away from her. Do you understand?"

"Why does she only remember you two?"

"We think it's because Road hates us for some reason. She wants revenge on us. But . . . I can understand me, only Kanda—"

"Maybe she hates me because you like me, Moyashi," Kanda joked sarcastically.

"Knowing Road, that could be it," I replied glumly. "Lavi, will you try?"

Lavi's red head bobbed energetically. "I'll do my best, Allen! I can't fight Road, so I'll help out as much as I can."

"Thanks, Lavi," I laughed.

The former Bookman ran off towards the training rooms, a huge spring in his step.

"Tch," Kanda sighed. "This is ridiculous. But if anyone knows how to make a heart strong, it's Lavi. He beat Road."

"Good point." I smiled at Kanda and grabbed his hand. "Let's go get something to eat. I'm starving."

**-Break-**

**Bah . . . went back again and the line breaks STILL aren't showing up. For now, I've just got the word "break" in there. **

**I don't know why, but except for the beginning of this chapter, it was really hard to write. That means this story is beginning to bore me, so it MUST be boring you at this point. I'm going to start some action in the next chapter, just so it'll be more fun for all of us. **

**Oh, and I have a question: should I kill Lenalee or not? You can just post in the review, and I won't let anyone know what the outcome is until I write it in the story. But I'm not sure myself, so I'll let you readers decide. **


	8. Road's Accomplice

**Eheh . . . Gomen. This is like, super late. But I have three fanfics I'm working on and another one just popped into my head . . . someone needs to stop this over reactive brain of mine. I've been writing way too much for my own good. **

**Anyway, the votes are in! Will Lenalee die or not? Dun dun dun . . . lol, I will tell you it was a close call and it almost tied. But now you just have to wait and find out for yourself. Thank you for taking the time to vote! **

**Also, I'm almost at 50 reviews for **_**Revelations**_**, which is more than I ever thought I'd get for my fan fictions, since I'm fairly new on here. Thank you to everyone who has helped me! I apologize for never answering your reviews, but I'm going to change that now! Starting with this chapter, I'm going to get off my lazy typing bum and start answering. **

**Okay, I'm done with my super long note. Now for the chapter! **

**Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man is the property of Hoshino Katsura**

**.**

"Alright, you two," Komui announced, his beret fully in place upon his head, glasses pushed up on his nose. I couldn't help but to smile at him; even the thought of Lenalee being back had our beloved commander happier than normal. Though beside me, Kanda merely grunted at Komui's enthusiastic expression and crossed his arms over his chest. "I know it's odd, but I'm going to send the two of you on a mission—"

"Komui," I said seriously. "Is this because of Lenalee?"

"Ah . . . you hit the nail on that one, didn't you, Allen dear?" Komui chuckled.

"Che. It wasn't so hard to figure out." Kanda exuded his superiority mode perfectly. It seemed that even without a year of missions, he could still put his "detective" skills to work. Which meant he was quite bored. "I mean, obviously there aren't any cases of Innocence out there anymore, and even if there were, it's pointless. There's no other reason for sending us off."

I nodded my agreement. "You want us to leave so that Lavi can try to regain Lenalee's heart, right? And, other than that, so that Road can't spy on us, if she is using Lenalee. I understand."

"Thank you, Allen." Komui smiled at us, in such a way that it made me feel that he was thinking clearly for once. "Anyway, you don't mind going overseas, do you? I was planning on sending you back to China to check on Bak and the others. I would like to know how the other Branch directors are doing since the war ended. Most of them are still actively researching on Innocence. We're trying to record as much data as we can before something like this happens again. Perhaps not with the Millennium Earl, but any number of things could pop up that require the Innocence. Your mission is to transport whatever Innocence the Asian Branch has collected back here, under our roof. There should be about twenty pieces. The mission will take anywhere from a month to half a year, depending on the weather you encounter at sea. I will give you each an extra golem to contact us with. You need to tell us of our progress, and I can inform you of any changes within Lenalee, if you need to come back. Is that alright?"

"Kanda, you don't get seasick, do you?" I joked.

"Che," was the only answer I received.

"I regret that I can't send you through the Ark, but if that were the case, there wouldn't be a need to send you in the first place. That idiot would be visiting every chance he got."

I grinned at that one. When I had killed the Earl, the Fourteenth's will inside of me had vanished. Unfortunately, that meant that I could no longer control the Ark. Also, that weird notion of me being able to play the piano had vanished as well. There was no way my fingers could move that way again. I would stick with the flute. "Yes, I suppose that is a good thing, Komui. When do we go?"

"Tomorrow morning, if that's alright with you. I'm sure it is; there hasn't been anything exciting going on at Headquarters anymore. You two should enjoy that vacation."

"Thank you, Komui!" I called as we left.

"You'd better say bye to Lavi before you go tomorrow," he replied before the door shut. "He'll be lonely enough the way it is."

"No one wants to say bye to that _baka usagi_," Kanda snorted, though I knew he'd be saying bye in his own way before the day was out.

"Finally, we can get out of here for awhile!" I sighed, turning around to walk in front of the silent samurai. "What do you think, Kanda? Will we be able to last for awhile out of this dump?"

"I think we're going to make this 'vacation' last for as long as we can."

"I agree." With a laugh, I whirled back around, taking his hand as if it were the most natural thing to do. After a week made of avoiding Lenalee and training alone, we'd made it quite obvious to everyone else that we were together. Neither of us cared in particular. "But we shouldn't make it last for half a year. Thinking of Lavi, he'll be sad without us. He'll miss his best friend, neh?"

"The _baka usagi _is not my best friend," Kanda swore menacingly. "Keep saying things like that and I'll go hide from you."

"You wouldn't. I'd find you eventually."

He didn't reply. He'd already "hidden" from me several times. I always found him either shoveling soba down his throat or taking a walk in the woods surrounding the Headquarters. Kanda was a very simpleminded man. His entire knowledge of our home consisted of the cafeteria, the training rooms, and his bedroom.

"Come on, it's time for dinner."

"We should eat in the room."

"But Kanda, it's the last day in awhile you'll get to see everyone!" I pouted openly at him, without caring about the consequences. Mugen was no longer a real threat. "At least act like you're going to miss them."

"It's not that." He frowned, but it was different than normal. It was a . . . concerned kind of frown, like he'd had back in town. "I don't trust that Lenalee eats with us. We shouldn't let her know we're going. She might try to stop us."

"Oh. Yeah, actually that's a good point. Maybe we can take Lavi aside and tell him. It's impolite for us not to show up, and worse than that, if we don't she might think something is up."

"Moyashi, you have a brain," he commented.

"And you, BaKanda, don't think outside the box."

"Che."

" . . . I thought so."

**.**

"Let's see . . ." I muttered, staring down at the packet Komui had given us. I'd almost missed these papers. They confused me more than anything, but at least the fact that they were in my hand let me know that there was something I could do. Those papers were a lifeline. "So we're supposed to ride the _Nocturnal Disaster_ to get to China . . . could he not have picked a better ship? It sounds horrible."

"It was probably the only one he could get tickets for," my companion said distractedly. I glanced up to see him fiddling with the buttons of the coat he was wearing. Komui had sprung a surprise on us this morning: Exorcist coats that Johnny had meant to give us before our final battle. It made me extremely happy to feel the familiar warm leather wrapped around my body.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't like this one. I can't move around as well. Johnny must have been thinking fashion and not comfort."

"You just haven't broken it in yet. Maybe you'll get used to it. Anyway, it's a two day walk unless you feel like hitchhiking along with some carriage."

"Walking never did us any harm."

"No, but these suitcases might. Why did Komui want us to take half our wardrobe with us?"

"Che. Depending on if Road actually attacks us or not, we may need extra clothes."

"Mm." I tucked the papers into my coat and looked around at our surroundings. The middle of London was extremely busy today; the streets were swarming with people. I hated London, as much as it was the hometown of my ethnicity. I felt out of place. "Let's go," I told Kanda, before I started running. "How much money did Komui give us?"

"Enough to last for a year if you don't eat ten meals a day."

"No fair! You know I can't help it!" I sighed, running my free hand through my hair. "Do you think this is a good idea? In theory, I mean. I'm worried that something is going to go wrong."

"You worry too much." Kanda pulled my hand out of my hair and took it into his own before he lifted his suitcase. As he continued to talk, we walked slowly down the street. The crowd dispersed for us; the people were scared of our coats. "Komui knows what the right thing is to do. He's not just thinking about Lenalee. And if that Lolita chick attacks us, so what? Better here than at Headquarters. We're the only two capable of fighting anyway, unless she brings an Akuma with her for Krory."

"Good point. Hey . . . Kanda?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't think I've ever heard you talk so much in your life." I laughed faintly. "It's weird."

"And I've never seen you worry so much. So what? Shut up and walk, Moyashi."

"It's Allen, BaKanda."

I received no vocal reply, nor did I expect one. So instead I contented myself to window shopping. My hand hung limply in his; I let him do all the weightlifting on my part. But I was comfortable. It felt odd, though, knowing that my impossible wish had just come true. I was with Kanda, in a relationship that most only dreamed about. That of having someone who cared, someone who would die for their loved ones.

Even if I wasn't allowed to tell him I loved him. At this point, he wouldn't believe me. I saw in his eyes that he loved me, but I had no doubt that he couldn't get it into his mind that I would ever love him just as much. I wished I could tell him how wrong he was.

Lenalee hadn't found out that we were leaving. I'd gotten to Lavi right after dinner to tell him about the sudden mission. To my surprise, though he obviously didn't want us to go, he also thought it was a good idea. The way it was, Lenalee wanted nothing to do with him. Perhaps when we left, there was hope that she would find comfort in someone around her own age.

Age . . . now that I thought about it, the Chinese girl didn't look any older than she had when we'd last fought the Millennium Earl. "Hey, Kanda?"

A grunt was my encouragement to go on.

"Road has the Noah of Dreams, right?"

"What about it?"

"I was just thinking . . . Lenalee hasn't aged since the battle. Her hair is still the same length and everything. If Road is the Noah of Dreams, then she wouldn't be able to stop the flow of time too, would she?"

Kanda stopped walking, eyes distant as he contemplated what I'd just told him. "Unless time doesn't matter in the dream world."

"No. Remember when Road captured Miranda, Lenalee, and me? When she got us, it was daytime. When we came out of her world, it was nearing midnight. So time flow still exists. You don't think she's found an accomplice, do you? It might be why she hasn't attacked us yet."

"You might be right. We should inform Komui. Do you have your golem? The extra, not Timcampy."

I dug the device out of my pocket as Kanda looked around for an alley. It wouldn't do for London's residents to see a flying _thing _in the middle of the street.

"Here." The Japanese man pulled me forward. A moment later, he ducked behind a deserted store.

"Ah, you two already?" the Supervisor's cheerful voice rang out, too happy to be safe. "What is it?"

Kanda gestured to me, fully expecting me to be the one to talk. After a moment of pouting, I complied; I supposed it was only fair, seeing as how I was the one who'd thought of it. I explained quickly, just in case someone heard us talking. When I finished, I held my breath, waiting for a reply to tell us to come back. That, I wasn't looking forward to.

When the answer came back, I wasn't expecting it. "You two had better keep going with the mission, then. You should deliver this information to Bak at all costs. Consider it an add on. I'm glad you thought of this, Allen. It could be invaluable information. If you figure anything else out, tell me immediately."

"Of course. Thank you, Komui."

"Thank God he didn't send us back," I sighed once we disconnected.

Kanda's head nodded jerkily. "Let's go."

"Hey, wait a minute!"

"What?"

"Do you think there's another reason Komui sent us off? I mean—hey!"

"You think way too much, Moyashi." Kanda jerked me out among the crowds again, his face set in stone. "Let it go."

I unhappily stuck my tongue out at my partner. That meany butt.

**.**

**What's D. Gray-Man without a mission or two? I couldn't help it. :D Besides, we all know we just want Kanda and Allen to go off on their own little adventure together. **

**I was hoping to make this chapter a little longer than the others, but it didn't work. There just wasn't enough action to make it longer. Still, you get a little hint of how the plot's going to turn out, which makes for a good chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and as usual, please review! Let me know what you think! **


	9. Spies    And Hunger

**Back with another chapter, finally! I just finished with another multi-chapter fic, so that gives me more time now for this one. Also, I finished my NaNo novel from last November (finally) so I don't have to worry about writing that anymore either. More time for Yullen, of course! **

**Oh yes, and we have a . . . slight problem. XD I'm sure all of you remember me asking for your vote on whether to kill Lenalee or not, but . . . well, it tied. XD So I'm going to have a poll up on my page, and you can also tell me in the review again if you don't feel like actually voting. Either way, I'd really appreciate your help here. Even if you don't normally review, I'd like to know. **

**Oh, and one other thing before we get started with the chapter. The Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OSTs are a MUST to check out. When Brotherhood came out, I seriously didn't think they could top the music that Ooshima Michiru gave to the original. But they did! Go listen, go listen!**

**Okay, I'm done ranting. **

**Warning: Slight cussing, from our wonderful Kanda. And some kissing.**

**Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man is the property of Hoshino Katsura.**

**.**

After walking for two days straight to the harbor, it was easy to say that I wasn't in a good mood. Kanda had taken to ignoring me after the first day, and quite frankly, I didn't care if I was annoying him or not. It was his decision to walk, and I was tired, frustrated, and _starving_. If he wanted to go the traditional way, he was going to get the traditional feelings to go along with it.

"How much further?" I demanded, letting a bit of a whine seep into my voice. My legs felt like lead.

"Che. Moyashi, you're weak."

"Since I haven't done anything like this in a year, do you really blame me? Kanda, answer me!"

"It's just up there, brat. Besides, our ship leaves in an hour."

"We have a cabin, right? God, please tell me we have a cabin. And food. If they don't have food I'm going to stop walking right here. Really, I am."

"Moyashi, shut up." He glared backwards at me. "You're acting like Lavi."

"Am not." I glared right back, unwilling to admit defeat. "I want food."

"We'll pick some up on the way to the harbor if you're complaining that badly. Just _shut up_."

Aaannnd, as much as I hated it, that made me feel slightly better. I glanced up, looking around curiously. We were coming into a town at this point, the third one since we'd left London. This one was larger than the last one, but of course nowhere as big as where our Headquarters was located. My grouchy mood lifted when I realized that, just perhaps, I'd be able to get plenty of food here. "Kanda, I—"

"Hush, Moyashi."

"Darn it, Kanda, you promised me food!"

"Are you a dog?" he growled. "Always begging for your damn food. You're really getting on my nerves today."

"You're the one that told us to walk," I muttered in reply, not even caring if he heard. "Maybe if you'd found a ride I wouldn't be so angry."

"Look, just because I lo—I mean, like you doesn't mean you get whatever you want out of me." The samurai faced the front again, crossing his arms over his chest like some giant baby.

"Kanda," I giggled; I couldn't help it. "You were about to say you love me, weren't you?"

"So what if I was, Moyashi?"

"It's Allen. And how come you can say it but I can't? That's not fair!"

"You're making a scene," he replied, and then refused to say anything else until we walked into a food market. I scuffled behind him, keeping the permanent frown in place with the hope that he'd turn around and see just how grumpy I was. Of course, being Kanda, he never did. I was left with tugging—or maybe yanking, but who would know?—on his high ponytail, intent on messing up that seemingly perfect hairdo. Kanda with messy hair was a rather enjoyable sight to my eyes now. He looked almost human that way.

That wasn't to say he wasn't a human. But when he looked down on everything like he was God, you wanted to believe he was superior to us mortals. I'd always seen him that way.

"Get yourself a load to last for a week or two," Kanda said curtly. "There's no telling how long we'll be on that ship, and chances are that Komui got us a cargo ship and not a fancy tourist attraction."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm talking about food. Or the lack thereof, in this case."

"Oh."

"Che. Baka."

Ugh. This was going to be a _long _trip.

**.**

To my delight, the _Nocturnal Disaster_ was not a cargo ship. However, it wasn't a tourist attraction either; it was a ship made solely for the purpose of transporting people across the sea. Still, that meant there would be more food than Kanda had hinted at.

"Oi, Moyashi," Kanda called . . . from somewhere under the pile of food I'd gotten. "Hide your hand. People are staring."

I looked down, wondering idly when I'd finally stopped caring about my appearance. I didn't hide my white hair any longer; as a matter of fact, this latest Exorcist outfit didn't have a hood. I'd always thought my hand was hideous, but the Innocence I carried was the Heart. I knew a heart wasn't always meant to be beautiful, or normal. It could be coarse on the outside and still have its uses on the inside. Kind of like Kanda . . .

Either way, I'd stopped thinking my arm was disgusting. It was my lifeline in a sense, and if my hand were normal by now, I might have cried. I couldn't imagine not having this abnormality with me.

Still, Kanda was right; I was getting bewildered, scared, and disgusted looks from the other people at the harbor. Reluctantly I stuck the overly large claws into my pocket. "We _do _have a cabin, right?"

"We're staying on the damn thing for who knows how long, baka. Of course we have a cabin."

"Just checking."

We made our way up the dock to find the captain of the _Nocturnal Disaster_. He wasn't too hard to find; he was actually a she, and several sailors pointed out that you couldn't miss the curly flame-colored hair. Once we confirmed our reservation with her, we made our way onto the ship and into the room we'd been assigned. For not being a luxurious cruise, the ship still seemed nice. Our cabin was fairly roomy, with a table and couch (nailed down, of course). There was a bunk bed in the corner of the room, which meant . . .

"I call bottom," I shot out.

"Che. Fine by me. I don't have to hear you moving around all night."

"I don't move around! You're the one that ends up on top of me whenever I wake up."

"I do that so you won't move."

We both knew he was lying, but at that moment, we didn't contradict each other. The sight of that mattress was so appealing to me that I even ignored my food in favor of the bed. I threw myself onto the bunk and snuggled up against the pillow, grinning one last time at my scowling partner. "Wake me up in a little?"

"Che. Sure."

"Are you going to sleep too?"

"Do I look tired to you?" He bent down to put our suitcases on the floor.

One cursory glance at his face told me that he was; there were slight bags under his eyes, and his gaze wasn't nearly as fierce as it usually was. "Yes. Sleep well, Kanda."

I got another grunt in reply. After that, though, I ignored any motion Kanda did. I fell asleep in record time, and this was including after a battle. Stupid BaKanda for making me walk all the way here . . .

**.**

When I woke up, we were rocking back and forth; the ship had obviously set sail some time ago. At first I frowned; it was night outside now, and . . . hadn't I told Kanda to wake me up in a couple hours? But then I noticed the bed above me sinking lower than it had earlier; he must still be asleep. So he had lied about not being tired.

I sat up, still hugging the pillow that I had failed to use earlier. The bed was uncomfortable; it might not look so bad, but obviously it hadn't been replaced in a long time. What was more, it was impossible to sit up without hitting my head on the bunk above me. I _really _hoped I didn't sit up one night and hit right below Kanda's . . . arse. He'd kill me.

The bed above me creaked as its tenant shifted. "Oi. Moyashi. You awake?"

"Yup. Just woke up."

"Mm." The bed rose back to its normal stretching limits as Kanda jumped down from the top bunk. I thought he was just going to go sit on the couch or something, but instead he just shoved me over to the wall and laid down beside me.

"Kanda? What are you doing?" It wasn't like him at all to get into _my _bed. That was my job, cuddling him! He was too tough to do something like this. Then again . . . there wasn't anyone we knew on this ship . . .

"It's uncomfortable up there. Move over, Moyashi."

"We aren't going to do this the whole trip, are we? And I just woke up!"

"So what if we are?" Kanda pulled the blanket over us both and then, in an obvious feat of un-Kanda-like attitude, he wrapped his arms around me, yanking me back down before practically laying on top of me again. "It's night. There's no point in getting up."

"But what if I'm hung—mph!" I blinked, staring into Kanda's eyes as his mouth landed firmly on mine. I mean, I didn't mind, but I knew he just did it to shut me up. Which was _not _cool. In a sort of protest, I stuck out my tongue, hoping that he would get the hint and let go.

Wrong idea.

Sharp, strong teeth bit my tongue before the feeling of another wet muscle in my mouth had me shocked. However, Kanda didn't do anything more than that; he merely smirked against my mouth and then pulled away.

"What . . ." I gasped, staring at him in surprise. Never had I expected Kanda to . . . okay, well, maybe. So scratch that.

"Go back to sleep, Moyashi," was my only reply. Kanda wrapped his arms around me and flopped his head down against mine, cobalt eyes squeezing shut.

When he put it like that, there was little choice in the matter. Food could wait until later, I supposed. So I returned the hug, in a sense, pulling both hands around his neck to tangle into his black hair. He didn't seem to mind, and I began playing with the ebony strands, sliding them through my fingers for a minute before I started gently massaging his head.

To my amusement, Kanda fell asleep with no more prodding, just like a little baby. His breath ghosted out evenly right next to my ear, and the steady rhythm helped to put me to sleep as well. It was funny, thinking how a month ago, I wouldn't have thought this was possible. To be here with Kanda, the biggest butt on the fact of the planet . . . and to have him looking so peaceful.

I had to admit, it made me happy that the only person that could break Kanda's wall was me.

And, of course, on the plus side . . . _Screw the pillow_, I thought as my eyes drifted closed.

**.**

"So that's it, huh?" A childish laugh broke out from a chair, echoing in the slightly too large room. "Who would have thought? The black-haired bastard and my Allen, in love? Hmph. It's outrageous!"

"Ah, but Road . . . who ever said that Allen was yours?"

The little Lolita girl whirled around, glaring behind her at the person the voice belonged to. "I did, since I claimed him. He might have killed the Earl, but I can't help it; I still love him! And I _will _have him. No matter what. He'll see eventually; the only person for him is me."

"What about the girl? How is she doing?"

"The girl? Oh, you mean Lenalee. Her mind is still mine; she can't remember anyone except for the bastard and my Allen. Don't worry, she won't come to her senses anytime soon. I've made sure of that. My main concern is the two fighting Exorcists. Going on a mission now, when the war is over? I simply must know what this is about."

"What are you suggesting, then?"

Road grinned, the dark room around her making the smile freakish, stretching too far on her small face. "Oh, I think we'll just have to make it clear that they can't love each other. Don't you agree . . . Tyki?"

**.**

**And on that note, we're breaking off to turn to a different subject for a moment. If you're a Kuroshitsuji fan, just letting you know (in case you don't already, but if you're addicted, you should have been desperate enough to know) the first episode of season two is FINALLY subbed. I waited ages, and I watched it RAW twice even though I didn't understand half of what was said. But watch it! It seems like it's going to be a good second season! **

**Wow . . . that's the second anime I've included in this chapter that doesn't have to do with DGM. I fail. XD Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Don't forget, let me know what you want me to do with Lenalee! **


	10. Our Biggest Fears

**Okay, well, first off. Thanks for the help on Lenalee so far. :D Little genius me forgot to post the poll on my page, so if you went and couldn't find it, it's up now. Sorry about that! **

**Secondly, I hope I'm updating fast enough for your tastes; I've been trying to get the new chapters up as fast as I can. But seeing as how I write my stuff chapter by chapter (I get ideas and say, "ooh! I have to do that!") I can never guarantee when a chapter will be finished. Let me know if I'm going too fast or slow. **

**So now here's chapter ten of Revelations; please enjoy it! **

**Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man is the property of Hoshino Katsura**

**Rating: K+ for this chapter. Only warnings are for Road's creepiness, Allen and Kanda's fluffiness, and Tyki's . . . well, never mind. That would ruin the chapter. XD**

**.**

By this time, I couldn't resist food any longer, no exceptions. Kanda was either more exhausted than me (which was highly unlikely) or he planned to snuggle his way through the ship ride. I, on the other hand, desperately needed sustenance. With a big pout, I shoved his big, black-haired head off of my shoulder. However, he was a bit heavier than I'd thought; his head ended up halfway on my face, pressed uncomfortably against my cheek.

Epic fail.

On the bright side, Mr. Emotionless didn't snore, which meant the only thing tickling my ear at this point was his heavy breathing. And after trying for ten minutes straight to either wake him or move him, I gave up. As ugly as my original arm had been, I wished it was back for this purpose only—stretching it out to grab a hold of that delicious-looking pile of food.

Then again . . . there was Clown Belt. I'd never really used it for anything but fighting, though I supposed it could be used for grabbing things as well. And . . . well, I'd only activated it once in the past week . . .

There was an option of doing two things with it. One: wrap it around Kanda and use it to yank him on the floor. Or two: gently reach over Kanda while trying to avoid him to get to the food. After a short moment of thinking, I decided on the latter choice; I really didn't want to wake Kanda up. He was scary with a bed head.

Silently I activated my Innocence, and then stretched my—luckily Kanda free—right hand up above the sleeping samurai. It was somewhere around midday outside, so it was easy for me to spot the obvious pile of food resting on the floor. I calmly judged the distance the Clown Belt would have to reach before it was able to wrap its way around _anything _edible.

Kanda moaned softly in his sleep, body rolling over once again so that his face was fully blocking my view of the food. There was no possible way I could reach it now. I groaned in annoyance, deactivating my Innocence to lower my arm back.

That was enough. Kanda was going to wake up _now, _or I'd kill him and then wake him up later. I dug my nearly numb left hand out from underneath the samurai before fisting all ten of my digits in his extremely lengthy locks. This, quite obviously, would not wake him up; as a matter of fact, he moved closer to me at the contact.

I yanked.

**.**

"Agh, I really want to play with Allen _now_," Road groaned, cherry-red lips smacking loudly against the lollipop in her mouth. She sat languidly in a chair . . . the Earl's old chair, to be exact. She had her stocking-covered feet propped up against a foot rest, one arm thrown back to rest against the back of the chair. Her eyes were filled with unhappiness, and not anything abnormal. She was just one grumpy child at this point. Allen got to have fun . . . so why couldn't she? But _no_, she had to sit and watch Tyki like a freaking baby sitter.

"Tyki."

"What?"

"I want to find you a host. Now." Road turned around, staring into the center of the room.

Tyki Mikk, the tall Portuguese man, was nowhere in sight. Instead, a simple swirling mist flew about that section of the room . . . a bodiless soul, to be precise. Yes, Tyki's body had been destroyed in the final battle. But Road, thinking that there was no way any of them could survive anyway, simply couldn't bear to watch her beloved "Uncle" perish. She quickly took a hold of Tyki's soul before it could follow down the path of the Earl and retreated into her dream world, unwittingly sucking in the Exorcist Lenalee Lee along with them.

Tyki no longer had a recognizable form, which greatly upset the little Lolita. She wanted to be able to talk to the Portuguese man face to face, even if it wouldn't be exactly the same one. She didn't want to stare at the mist that was her favorite Noah. She wanted _him._

"You can't just find any host," the mist proclaimed back at her. His voice, at least, was the same. Road had always loved how deep and . . . sinister sounding it was. "It has to be one I approve of as well."

"Of course, or else the body will reject you." She waved a hand impatiently. "Is there anyone in mind?"

If mist could grin, this mist might have. "I was thinking it would be fun to play a game."

"A game?" Road squealed. _This _was the Tyki she knew. "What kind of game?" she demanded excitedly.

"Why don't we make a bet," the mist laughed. "A very big one."

**.**

When Kanda yelled, he _yelled._ As soon as I yanked, the girly-faced Exorcist had leapt up from my tugging hands, straight into the top bunk to whack his head all over again. And though I was surely about to get murdered, the situation was just so funny I couldn't help myself from laughing quietly to myself.

"What the _hell_, Moyashi!" Kanda practically screamed. I'd never seen him so enraged before . . . and I'd gotten him pretty mad in the past. Any worse and he'd be frothing at the mouth . . .

And that image sent me into a hysterical state of giggles, and all the while, I was trying to scramble off of the bed before the madman could get to me. The whole situation was just so comical. If I died like this, I might just be content.

My feet had just barely touched the floor before strong arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me back firmly onto the bed and Kanda's lap. "You think this is _funny_, Moyashi?" his voice growled into my ear. Immediately I knew I was in trouble. Big trouble.

"Sorry, Kanda, I just . . . haha, you jumped, and then . . . and then . . . heehee, I pictured you . . . and . . . oh God!" I started laughing harder and louder, completely unable to control my own actions. This whole thing was just so odd.

"I'll give you something to laugh about," he hissed.

And then . . .

"Agh, Kanda, nooo!" I was screaming like a girl, and still laughing hysterically, squirming all over Kanda's lap. For all I knew, he could have been a professional tickler . . . because as soon as his fingers touched my sides and started messing with my ribs, I was reduced to a laughing, howling little kid. Frantically I whirled around, hands gripping at Kanda's shoulders, trying to grasp his hair again to pull but lacking the strength to do so. At the same time I couldn't pull away from those talented fingers, and so Kanda effectively had me stuck. I swear, tickling is like, the perfect torture . . .

After a few minutes I realized that somehow, both of us had fallen onto the floor of our room, and I was rolling around, still trying to escape Kanda's wrath. However, I froze, completely disregarding the approaching claw-like fingers, when I saw the expression my mission partner was sporting. He was _smiling_, and nothing as satirical as what usually emerged. It was a genuine smile of happiness, despite that I'd just invoked the monster inside of him by waking him up. He was _enjoying _this.

"What?" he demanded, obviously put off by my openmouthed stare.

Instead of answering, I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling my upper body up so that I could kiss him firmly on that smiling mouth. It was just as I thought; it was so much better, warmer, to kiss him when he was in a pleasant mood. Sure, this was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity, but that didn't mean I couldn't enjoy it while it lasted. To know that the grumpy, constantly complaining samurai could transform into something like this made me happy as well.

At first, Kanda seemed too shocked to do anything in reply. Then he replied enthusiastically, the smile finally melting as he pressed back against my own mouth. My back thumped down against the floor once again, hands fisting into Kanda's hair as he pressed down with force. I loved the taste of him, and the fact that my nose was close enough to smell his scent . . . I could smell the shampoo he used in his hair, the faint scent of woodlands, and . . . I smelled home.

"I appreciate your initiation, Moyashi," he finally gasped when we managed to pull away from each other. "But why?"

"Because you were smiling," I replied, taking the chance to sit up; the wood floor was hard against my back. "And it made me want to kiss you."

"Stupid reason," he grunted. But by the faint pink blush that showed against his olive-toned skin, I knew he was pleased.

"Ah . . . sorry for pulling your hair. But you wouldn't wake up, and I . . ." My stomach growled, interrupting what I was about to say. I grinned sheepishly. "That."

"Che." Kanda stood up, placing his hands on his hips in an attempt, I supposed, to look superior to me. "Idiot. Why didn't you just climb over me?"

"Because apparently I'm a cute teddy bear that you like snuggling with," I told him, grinning again. "Kanda, you're _heavy_."

"I can't help it that you're a Moyashi," he retorted.

"Whatever." I picked myself up off the floor and reached out towards the pile of food. But Kanda grabbed a hold of my wrist just before my index finger could touch the source of that heavenly scent, and I frowned up at him in annoyance. "What are you doing?"

"Punishing you for pulling on my hair."

"By not letting me eat?" I placed my free hand on his chest, pushing him back but, as usual, failing. "You'd just be punishing yourself."

"How so?" He smirked tauntingly at me, likely thinking that he was going to come out the victor in this tiny war. But I had an ace up my sleeve . . .

Right on cue, my stomach made another plea to be filled. It was louder than the first one, and despite the obvious point it made, I felt a blush of embarrassment rising onto my face. I felt sorry for whoever was walking outside of our room . . .

"I'm going back to sleep," he finally growled, stomping back over to the bottom bunk.

I reached out and snatched a bread loaf before trying to stop him. "Haven't you gotten enough sleep yet? It's been two days since we boarded, Kanda. At least train a little, or something. It's weird to see you sleep so much."

"I don't like ships," was his simple comeback.

"You don't _look _seasick . . ." Absentmindedly, I stuck the loaf of bread in my mouth and bit off a large chunk, munching as I looked the samurai. True to my belief, he looked perfectly fine; his face wasn't green at all, and he wasn't breathing heavily. I looked into his eyes quizzically, but then realized exactly what the problem was. And . . . again, the bad thing was, I couldn't help but to be amused by it, even if it wasn't very nice. "Kanda," I said slowly. "Can you swim?"

Immediately he turned his face away from mine, but not fast enough so that I couldn't see the brief flicker of chagrin and fear in those cobalt orbs. "Shut up," he announced stoically.

"Are you afraid of drowning?" I couldn't stop the soft laugh that bubbled up from my throat.

"It's not funny!"

"Okay, okay, sorry." Regrettably I placed the bread back on top of the pile of food before going over to sit next to him on the bed. "So you're afraid of drowning," I continued, this time seriously. He really was afraid of something, which for me was a shock, seeing as how it was _Kanda _that I was talking to. And that meant he probably wouldn't let this information leak out to anyone other than myself. "Kanda, if this ship sinks, I won't let you drown, no matter what."

"It's . . . not just that," he admitted, in a voice that for once seemed too small for his body.

I thought of the implications of this. If he was afraid of drowning, but not _only _drowning, then this was bigger than one little fear. This was something big. As I recalled, Kanda only went really out of control when . . .

That was it! It was always out in the open, what the older Exorcist had always feared, but yet no one had been able to sense it. It was because no one, myself included, pictured our ice-cold buddy to have a fear so vague. So vague, but yet so clear.

"You're afraid of dying," I said slowly.

The breath caught in Kanda's throat, and his shoulders seemed to tense. I'd hit the nail. But I didn't want him to lock up about this subject; I wanted to know everything about this. I wanted to help him in some way. What sort of a . . . boyfriend, or whatever, was I if I couldn't help the one I loved?

So I leaned down in front of him and placed my hand on the left side of his chest, just above the tattoo that marred his body. "Is it because of this?"

Slowly, the Japanese man nodded, turning back to look at me. He was hesitant to do that, I was sure, but at the very least it meant he was willing to admit what he was having a problem with.

"It's because you already have a limit on your life," I continued bravely, my hand now forming a fist over that despicable curse. "It's because you know that unless you find "that" person, like you've said several times, you won't live to grow old. And though you don't want to admit it, you care for your friends, and you don't want them to see you die because they'll suffer. You don't want to lose them. Am I right, Kanda?"

"I . . ." He swallowed, eyes looking worriedly down at me as though he were pleading for forgiveness. "It's stupid," he finally replied.

"It's not stupid. Everyone has something they fear more than they should, and it's usually something small. My fear is the opposite of yours. You don't want your friends to see you perish. I don't want to see my friends perish. But that fear has already gripped my heart tightly, more than once. You have yet to experience yours . . . and it makes it worse." I reached forward and wrapped my smaller arms around his waist into a hug. I rested my head on his chest, just where my hand had formerly been. "Don't worry, Kanda. I won't let you die before your time, I'll make sure of it. Before, I didn't want to see you die. And now . . . now you mean more to me than myself, and I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you don't die. I promise you. But you have to promise me that you won't let me die either, because without me, I can't fulfill my part of the promise. Okay? Promise me."

Kanda returned my favor, his arms circling around my body as well, pulling me further into the embrace. It felt so right in his arms, like the world might just stop for us. "I promise you, Moyashi," he said huskily into my ear; if I didn't know any better, I thought he might be holding back tears. "You'll never die. Because you're going to keep me from realizing my worst fear."

"Of course." I sighed and smiled up at him, giving him one more peck on the lips. "Thank you."

And just like that, he shoved me off of him and onto the floor. I landed with a sharp thud and a very loudly voiced complaint; he'd ruined the moment, darn him! "Eat something," he snorted. "Your stomach is giving me a headache."

"Heheh . . . sorry, Kanda."

**.**

**Wow . . . this chapter was so much longer than the rest of them, I hope you don't mind! Kanda needed a big fear, and the one that always struck me as being perfect for him was death, after all. Once I started writing this chapter, it felt like it could keep going, but I didn't want to make it so long you'd get a headache reading it or something. Although if you want longer chapters, just let me know and I'd be happy to oblige. **

**~Shadow**


	11. We Are Important

**I feel like I've waited too long to update again, and I'm really sorry about that! But I have college starting in about three days, as well as working on my future NaNo project. However, I'm going to work around all of this and continue updating for you guys, so you're not all "What's gonna happen to Tyki?" or "Give us MOAR YULLEN!" Just saying. XD**

**Anyway, if any of you are brave enough to read the M rated stuff on here, I've just posted the first part of a two-shot Kanda/Lavi kink. *shameless self promotion* Also, I've just started a FictionPress account, with the same username as there is on here. If you're at all interested in my egocentric, unrightly gay characters from my series, go check me out! …eh, after I load something up on there. I have to finish typing one of them up. *is shot***

**And without further ado . . . **

**Rating: T, as usual, for Kanda's slight cursing and the adorable sexy Yullen moments. **

**Dislcaimer: D. Gray-Man is the sole property of Katsura Hoshino**

**. **

Only a week had passed since the lovebirds had left the Order. Only a week, and Lavi was bored out of his mind. It only took him about two hours to find out that Lenalee was avoiding him with every last bit of her strength. Once she heard that Allen and Kanda had left, she grew enraged, to the point where Komui had to physically stop her from tearing apart the Order. To Lavi, who found it easy to read people, this was odd; even if Lenalee was being controlled by someone, she was still herself.

The redhead left her alone for that first week, figuring that she needed time to rethink her actions. He knew that Komui had to stop her from going after Allen and Kanda several times, and that now it was nearly impossible to leave Headquarters thanks to the boarded up gate. However, the pigtailed girl had finally calmed down somewhat; she had taken to sitting at meals with them, even though all she did was glare down at her plate like something was about to sprout from it. Lavi did not try talking to her if she looked like she was in a foul mood, nor did he attempt to force himself on her. She would open up on her own time, and Lavi knew she was strong. Eventually, she would regain her sanity. She would remember him, he was sure. But until then, all he was able to do was sit and wait. Sure, it was hard to do, but if the situation had been swapped, she would have done the same for him.

On the seventh night after Allen and Kanda's departure, Lavi was tiredly walking back to his room after a grueling day of rearranging the millions of books in the library. His arms were sore; it was an obvious sign that he hadn't fought in a very long time. As he traipsed down the long, dark hall, he contemplated finding a new weapon to fight with. Even if it wasn't his beloved Innocence, he'd feel better if he were able to do some sort of fighting. Like this, without any sort of attacking utensil, he felt helpless. If their secret opponent showed up, he could do nothing to stop it. They were unprotected.

Lavi's shoulders slumped down tiredly, his step faltering until his heavy boots dragged across the floor. He really missed Allen and Kanda, and he wasn't afraid to admit it. Everything was so much more fun with them; the way they constantly argued even though it was quite obvious that they both liked each other. The way that Allen's face would light up like a bright red beacon every time the ex-Bookman mentioned the samurai's name. Heck, Lavi even missed Mugen's presence at his neck. There was nothing going on otherwise. It was the whole reason Lavi was still alive. If he'd known that everything would be so quiet, so . . . lonely after the war, he would have let the Noah kill him.

And he knew, there was no reason for him to be alive, not really. There was no reason for him to remain with the nearly dead Order. He had no Innocence anymore, and so he couldn't harm any of the remaining Noah with a normal weapon, nor could he take down an akuma. No, Allen and Kanda were the only ones who could still fight. Their Innocence was still intact, making them the only real threat to their invisible enemies—

Wait.

Lavi's booted feet started a too loud clatter in the empty hall, the sound echoing in unison from the frantic breathing that started to emit from his mouth. He was such an _idiot!_ To think that he hadn't noticed this before . . . if the old panda had still been alive, Lavi would have been slaughtered for looking over this.

Allen and Kanda were the only remaining powerful fighting forces left in the Order. Lenalee, whom had seemingly lost all memories of even her beloved older brother, still remembered Allen and Kanda. And Allen had told him that time, after the two lovers had come pelting down the hall, that the Chinese Exorcist had indeed been spying on them in the training room. If all of these connections were put together, then that meant . . .

Whoever was on the other side of sending Lenalee over, supposedly Road Camelot, had known that no one else was capable of fighting. And if sending an awkward Lenalee could get them away from the Order and her "spying", then that meant the Order was open for a full-scaled attack! They could be taken down in minutes, with no one able to oppose their enemy like this.

They had to get out of here, and go into hiding. And, as much as Lavi hated even thinking of this, they had to get away from Lenalee. If the girl followed them, it didn't matter where they went to hide. This was troublesome, annoying . . . he had to tell Komui, before anything else happened. He had to—

_Wham_.

The force of running into the solid object just in front of him sent Lavi tumbling to the floor. Swiftly he scrambled up, apologizing without really looking up. "Ah, I'm sorry, I'm just in a bit of a hurry—"

"It's okay, Lavi. Don't worry about it."

Lavi froze, eyes finally flickering over to the figure standing there. _Oh God, this wasn't good . . . _

Lenalee smiled sweetly, her eyes glittering with a disguised emotion as she straightened the clothes Lavi had just rumpled.

**.**

"So _hungry_," I moaned faintly, draping my body overtop of Kanda's as my stomach growled angrily at me. After five days on this hellhole of a ship, all the food we'd bought was gone, and this ship was anything but fancy. Their portions of food for each meal were certainly small, and it just so happened that they refused to give out seconds. I felt guilty about it, too; Kanda always gave up part of his meal so I could have a little more. Even if he wouldn't admit it, he was hungry too.

"Shut up and conserve energy, Moyashi," Kanda spat back, one of his arms circling around my waist. With a soft sigh, I momentarily pressed my lips against his cheek and slumped my entire weight against him.

"How long are we going to stay on this ship?" I complained.

"It depends on the weather, you idiot. And since we haven't been getting much wind, it's taking longer than usual. We could have been there by next week, but if the weather stays the way it has been, it'll take us a couple months to get to China."

"Ngh . . . I can't go that long with this kind of food." I held up my left arm; it was trembling slightly, as though the Innocence were begging for a sort of sustenance.

"If it takes that long, they're going to stop in a port next week for supplies."

"Thank God." I lowered the shaking arm and cuddled my face into Kanda's chest; this couch really was quite comfortable, I had to admit. Even if the only one laying on it was my Japanese boyfriend . . . "How do you learn all this?"

"Che. Unlike you, I'm not afraid to ask people about my partner's needs."

"You wouldn't do that before," I giggled softly, pulling my face up to stare at him.

"Of course not." A slight pink blush rose to his cheeks, complimenting his olive skin wonderfully. "Before you weren't my priority. Now I . . . um . . ."

"Now you have a lover to take care of," I finished for him, knowing he was too chicken to say it himself. "How sweet. See, that's why I like you, Kanda. Even if you won't say it to my face."

"Shut up."

"Neh, Kanda, I'm bored." I let my head thump down against him, earning a soft gasp in reply. "How long are we going to stay below decks? I want to see the ocean."

"You can see it through the porthole." Kanda gestured vaguely behind him to the round window.

"That's not enough. I want to go up there, Kanda, please? Come with me?"

"Go by yourself."

"Ah, but that's no fun, I want to look with you!" I slammed both hands down on his chest and pushed my body upright until I was sitting on him and proceeded to glare at his nonchalant face. "Kanda. Is this because you're scared of falling off the side?"

Instantly the body beneath my stiffened. I knew it; even though I'd promised, he still didn't want to risk it. And, for some reason, that made my heart hurt.

"Do you not trust me?" I breathed. "I _said_ I wouldn't let you die. So why can't you accept that?"

"Because I . . ."

"What?"

"It's nothing." Kanda raised his arms and pushed me off of him and onto the floor. He raised his body from the couch and threw his jacket on, taking his time in fastening it around him. I stared in complete confusion at him, confused by his jerky actions and still wondering why the hell he had shoved me away from him.

"Moyashi."

"Eh?"

"Are you coming or not?" He stuck one socked foot into his boot, eyes locked on my bewildered face. That _bastard_, toying with me again.

"Kanda—"

"It's not that I don't trust you," he said suddenly, bending down to meet me face to face. "You have to give me time to get over my own fears. I know you'll protect me; you have before, and there's no way I can doubt it. But even so, I don't like standing so near death."

I raised an eyebrow, trying to make a joke out of the serious moment. "The side of the boat symbolizes death?"

"The water, baka!" he retorted, one fist bonking down on my head forcefully.

"Thanks, Kanda," I laughed quietly as I pulled myself upright. "Even if you don't want to, it makes me happy that you'll do it."

"Che. Just hurry up before I change my mind."

"I'm coming!"

**.**

"Lenalee," Lavi managed to gasp out, hardly managing to conceal the suspicion he had of her at this point. "What are you going out here? It's late, you should be in bed . . ."

"But if that's the point, shouldn't you be in bed too?"

"Ah, I was straightening up the library and started reading a book. I lost track of the time."

"I see." The Chinese girl smiled, and there was no hint of maliciousness in that gesture; it was purely something the old Lenalee would have done. Lavi felt himself relaxing even as he saw it. "What were you doing running that fast, though?"

"Ah . . . exercising." There was no way Lavi could tell her he'd been going to see Komui. She would have instantly known he'd figured something out. "I just figured that since Allen and Kanda aren't here, I'd better make sure I'm in shape. You never know what kind of robbers might come after us, you know?" Robbers? How stupid. But then, it was the best excuse the former Bookman could come up with.

"Has that happened before?" she asked curiously, cocking her head to one side.

"Nah, but . . . we're pretty vulnerable here, ya know?" Lavi smiled back, making sure he seemed convincing. "I mean, without Allen and Lavi, we can't really protect ourselves from outsiders. The rest of us can't use our Innocence, or we don't have it any more."

"Oh." She looked down at the floor. "Hey . . . Lavi?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry I can't remember you, or my brother. I know you must have meant a lot to me before the war ended, and I feel bad that all I can do is run from you. So . . . will you try to help me remember?"

Lavi could tell, in that moment, that this was not Road or anyone else trying to manipulate the girl into getting closer to him. This was purely something that Lenalee wanted, as a girl that was hurting from her blank past. And so he smiled again and nodded firmly, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder. "I'll do everything I can to get the old Lenalee back."

"Thank you, Lavi." Lenalee took a few steps past him before turning back. "I'm going to go to bed now, but I hope we can talk tomorrow. Is that alright?"

"Yes, fine," he replied before heading once again for Komui's office. Really, he was so confused. And the only thing he could think about at this stage was that it was going to be very hard to fight this war a second time.

And he was going to do it, no matter what, with Lenalee Lee on _their _side.

**.**

I had to admit . . . it was kind of cute seeing Kanda when he was scared. As mean as it was, I couldn't stop my inner self from doing a jig when the older man practically ripped my hand from my side and into his, fingers squeezing out a death grip. Kanda was _terrified. _

Luckily for him, I wasn't so amused that I didn't take his jerky actions into consideration. I reached up with my free hand and pulled his face down so I could kiss him firmly, ignoring the gapes and stares from the other passengers on the top deck. "You know, if you relax a little, you might actually enjoy this."

"Talk to me again in half an hour, Moyashi," he retorted shakily.

"You're not going to be sick, are you?"

"Keep staying stuff like that and I will . . . all over you."

"Silly Kanda." I squeezed his hand back and pulled him over to an empty deck chair, willing him to sit down in it. "If you don't want to go to the edge, that's fine. It's enough that you came up here with me."

"Don't take too long." The Japanese Exorcist reluctantly sat back in the chair, cobalt eyes locked on our hands as I pulled away.

"I'll only look for a couple minutes." I planted one last kiss on his cheek and then walked off to the railing edge.

The ocean, as usual, seemed too big. It reminded me too much of the fact that I was only one small person in the giant world, and that even if I'd saved this world from total destruction at the hands of the Earl, no one would ever know that Allen Walker was their savior. There was no sign of land anywhere near us; all I could see was a vibrant blue that was nearly the same color as Kanda's eyes. As tiny as it made me feel, I loved it. The smell, the breeze that whipped through my hair, the fresh air that sailed through my lungs . . . I loved all of it. It upset me that Kanda was too frightened to see it for himself, but I wasn't about to force him to come. After all, what kind of a lover would I be if I did that?

I wondered idly how Lavi and Lenalee were doing. I still felt guilty for leaving them in preference for the mission, but otherwise, we'd probably just be spied on the entire time. We needed to avoid detection from the enemy at all costs. Besides, Lavi was brilliant despite having dropped the title of Bookman. If anyone could snap Lenalee out of her "trance", it was him. I'd just have to trust his judgment if we wanted this issue to be solved.

Strong arms wrapping around my waist brought me back from my momentary thoughts, and I turned around to find Kanda standing there, his expression chiseled from stone. "Kanda, why—"

"I came up here to see the ocean with you, not sit down like a freaking bum. Got that, Moyashi?"

I grinned excitedly and placed my hands on top of the ones that were gripping my middle. It was Kanda's way of saying he wanted to conquer his fears. That, or he was too afraid of me falling over the rail to leave me alone. The latter sounded like the more likely reason . . .

"Ne, Kanda, isn't it pretty?" I asked, turning back to the sea. "It's all big and endless. It makes you feel small."

"Not really," he muttered softly.

"Eh?"

"It's like this: the sea may be huge compared to us, but we're only one boat in that large sea. There aren't a million boats floating around out here." Kanda sucked in a deep breath, arms tightening around me. "This sea is huge. There are only about fifty people on this ship of ours, and there aren't any other ships in sight. So think about it this way: in this entire sea, there are only fifty people. That doesn't make us small. It makes us important."

"Kanda," I giggled, whirling around to grin up at him. "And all this time Lavi was sure you didn't have a brain in that thick skull of yours. I _knew _you were smart."

"What . . . the hell does Lavi say about me?"

"You must be clueless if you don't know what Lavi says about you. Aren't you his best friend?"

"I am _not _that baka usagi's best friend."

"Don't deny it, Kanda; lying doesn't fit you about as much as cursing does." I reached up and tweaked his perfectly sculpted nose. "Come on, let's go back down. You still seem pretty tense; I don't want you to get scared."

"It's . . . not as bad as I thought it would be," he admitted. "The rail is pretty high, so it's not easy to fall off."

"That's my Kanda, sucking up to the scary stuff." I pulled him away from the rail. "Let's go, it's almost dinner time. I feel like I'm about to faint."

"If you say your stomach is yelling 'feed me' one more time . . ."

"I won't, because it's not. It's yelling 'I'm dying!'"

"Moyashi, I'm about to strangle you."

"How will you get over your fear of death then?"

". . . shut up."

**.**

"I see," Komui sighed, leaning over the cluttered desk to stare solemnly at Lavi. "Your theory is sound, and it's highly likely that our mystery enemy will try to attack us. I must admit, I'm glad your logic has remained with the Order."

"I feel stupid for not realizing it before. But . . . after a few minutes ago, I don't think we should take any drastic measures yet." The redhead leaned back against the couch, biting his lip as he recalled the run in with Lenalee. Komui would understand, he was sure.

"Oh?"

"Lenalee may not be as out of it as we think. I want . . . a week. One week, to see if I can make her remember the rest of us. I think I can do it."

"One week, Lavi," Komui agreed, lifting up a nearly blank piece of paper to stare at it. "And then we'll leave . . . and we'll leave my sister behind if you can't do it, as much as I don't want to."

"Thanks, Komui." Lavi smiled weakly as he stood to leave. He knew the Chief was hesitant about this, but he wasn't about to give up on someone he'd thought he loved for so long.

He'd make sure Lenalee regained her senses.

**.**

"Ne, Tyki, I'm _really_ bored. How about we play a game?" Road giggled, staring down at a fully asleep Lenalee through her dreams.

"What kind of a game this time?"

"A big one. How about we send some Akumas to play with the helpless Exorcists? I really want to watch some action."

"Isn't it a little early for that?" the swirling mist sighed.

"Nah. After all, we aren't working under the Earl any more. We can put this script to work as soon as we want. So what do you think, Uncle Tyki? Should we start the first act?"

"Well . . . we might as well."

"Oh goodie!" the Lolita laughed. "_Finally _we can have some fun. It's been too long."

"Way too long," Tyki whispered maliciously.

**.**

**Phew! Okay, gang, you asked for longer chapters, and so longer chapters you have! Actually, this is a little shorter than I had originally planned out, but that's because I hadn't updated so long I felt guilty and wanted to get this up as soon as possible.**

**Okay, two questions. One: what do you think of some Lucky? I've had a couple requests for it, but I haven't asked the majority of the readers. Second question (and this is only if like, EVERYONE agrees to it): is anyone a fan of hard yaoi? If practically everyone agrees to it, I'll change the rating to M and . . . uh . . . add some fruits . . . but if you don't want it, PLEASE don't be afraid to be the one person that says no. That's all it will take. **

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and reviews are always nice! Thanks for reading!**

**~Shadow**


	12. The Beginning of the Middle

**Ugghh . . . I'm really sorry about another super late update, but you see, school has been extremely hectic, and I haven't had time to write anything except for some small drabbles. On top of the five stories I have going on here, I have commissions and contest prizes to draw on dA, and . . . yeah, it's been crazy. **

**But it's okay, because now I'm taking the time to update! I won't leave you guys hanging!**

**THE ISSUE WITH THE YAOI: At first, I didn't get anyone that didn't want the yaoi, and so I was going to go ahead and change the rating to M. But then I got a very sincere request that the story not be changed to M because of how "sweet" it was, they called it (aww, I was all excited when I read that, btw). So I think that once this fic is finished, I'll probably either do an M-rated sequel or a companion fic in Kanda's perspective rated M. So. This story will stay rated T. **

**Oh yes, and also, the vote goes in favor of adding in some Lucky. So be ready for some Tyki/Lavi!**

**And now, on to the chapter at hand. In the last chapter, I focused more on Lavi than on our main fellows, and so we're going to deviate back to Yullen. There are going to be plot advancements in this chapter, because I don't think the plot's really moving at all on their end. **

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: The usual kissing and gayness. Nothing extreme in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man is the property of Hoshino Katsura. **

**Enjoy!**

**.**

"Food!" I hollered loudly into the surrounding marketplace, causing several bystanders to jump and then stare incredulously at my tired, yet excited face. The last week had been absolute torture, with nothing but small servings all the time. Kanda was exhausted because my stomach decided it wanted to be obnoxious, and I felt extremely weak from the lack of sustenance. If I had to activate my Innocence at the moment, I'd be killed from the lack of energy alone.

It would be the perfect time for Road to attack us.

Luckily, it seemed as though Road had remained silent through the past few days; we had no idea what she was up to, and at the moment, nor did we care. All we wanted was to make it safely to China, get the Innocence, and get back as fast as possible. As much as we liked being together by ourselves, we both felt uneasy about leaving the weaker Exorcists on their own.

I stumbled as I stepped forward, and would have fallen had it not been for the two strong, lean arms that wrapped their way around my middle. I swiftly righted myself and turned to smile at Kanda. "Sorry."

"Be more careful. Let's go get some food."

I sighed and followed after the quiet Samurai. Another reason the past week had been nearly unbearable: Kanda was acting weird, uncomfortably so. He had rarely been touching me lately, and I'd probably gotten one kiss out of the whole trip after the visit to the top deck. I was beginning to wonder if he didn't like touching me, and thinking of thoughts so forlorn made my heart tighten in my chest painfully. I was worried, even if I tried not to show it on the outside. "Where are we going to eat?"

"You pick," came the grunted reply.

"Mm . . . okay, then let's go over there. Komui left us plenty of money, right? And we'll get more from the Asian branch, and since we obviously aren't spending any of that money on the ship, I don't think they'll mind." I pointed towards an expensive restaurant. Kanda, in reply, frowned but followed after when I started walking. Sure, we shouldn't be spending money on something as trivial as better food, but after the torture of that ship, I deserved it.

"Don't spend all of it," my companion warned. "We still might need to spend a couple nights in an inn once we reach China, depending on the situation."

"Cheer up, Kanda," I sighed, turning around to walk backwards and stare at him. "You've seemed so off this past week. Aren't you at least glad to be on land?"

"There is that," he muttered.

"Then what's wrong? I thought for certain it was the ship that had you down, but obviously it isn't."

The samurai Exorcist shrugged without answering and instead reached forward to grasp my hand. I relaxed immediately; this was touching, even if it was something so natural we didn't even need to think about doing it anymore. Kanda hadn't held my hand all week either. I squeezed back gratefully, beaming a smile at his cold face.

"Are you hungry?"

"After you stole half of my food all week? Obviously."

"Sorry about that, Kanda." I pushed open the door to the restaurant, nearly fainting with happiness at the smell of _real_, _quality_ food. "Ooh . . . I don't think I can stand waiting for a long time to eat . . ."

"You're the one that opted not to go to the marketplace first."

"Ngh." I glanced up at the waiter approaching us and said in clear, slow English, "A table for two, please." I held up two fingers, just in case they didn't understand.

The waiter nodded, though, and said, "Right this way."

"I opted not to," I whispered to Kanda as we followed our host, "because I wanted good, hot, fresh food. Can you blame me? Everything on that ship was lukewarm."

"Maybe we should do them a favor and buy them some ingredients."

"And a stove," I agreed.

"Here you are, sirs," the waiter said in accented English. "What would you like to drink?"

I slid into my chair comfortably, glad for the chance to sit down and rest my weary limbs. Even that slight walk had tired me out.

"Anything except water," Kanda growled.

"Very good. And you, young sir?"

"Just whatever you give him is fine," I said, with a smile.

The waiter bowed stiffly. "I will return in a moment with your drinks. Please take a look at the menu."

"Moyashi," Kanda called.

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay? Your left arm is shaking." The samurai gestured vaguely towards the trembling limb, though I barely spared it a glance in preference for Kanda's beautiful stare.

"I'm fine. It's just weak."

He breathed out a sigh and shook his head. "When we buy food, you can't eat it all at once. You'll have to eat it sparingly. We might get stuck in a storm, and even then, a week isn't going to be too much for you."

"Thanks for worrying," I sighed, "But I've been through stuff kind of like this before. I can handle it."

"If Road attacks?"

I flinched; he'd seen right through my calm reasoning and got to the heart of the problem. "Then if I can't fight, I know you'll protect me."

"Moyashi, I don't have the lotus anymore. I can't get killing wounds over and over again and be expected to live."

"But I trust you." I leaned over the small table and pressed a kiss to his cheek; kissing his mouth would be way too shameful, especially in a restaurant as expensive as this. "I trust that you won't die, because I can't stand to see any of my friends die, and especially not my boyfriend. I trust you because you don't want to die, and so you won't. You won't let Road beat you. Not when we've beaten her countless times before."

"We've only beaten her because you were there," Kanda admitted quietly.

I sat back, frowning into those eyes. "You've never said anything like that before," I pointed out just as softly.

"But—"

"Don't, Kanda. I have confidence in my friends, because I know they can achieve what they set their minds to. It's _not _because of me. Okay? Even if . . . even if it is, I don't want to believe it. So just . . . don't say anything about that."

"Sure."

"So anyway, did they say how much longer it would take before we reached Asia?" I lifted the menu and frowned when I noted the foreign language all over the cover. "How are we supposed to order when we can't read what's on here?"

"English is on the back, idiot."

". . . oh."

"Anyway, we have wind now, according to the captain. We should make it there within the next couple of weeks."

"A couple more weeks of floating out on the ocean?" I moaned, letting the menu flop back onto the table. "I don't think I can stand it."

"Yeah, well, make that food of yours last for as long as possible. I don't want to see you all mopey when we finally make it."

"Yes, Master."

"Don't you dare refer to that red-headed drunkard."

I laughed quietly, shaking my head at Kanda's blunt attitude. Sure, neither of us had really liked the man, but for some reason Cross and Kanda just hadn't gotten along at all. It was kind of a relief the old man had run off to who knows where now.

"Here you are, sirs," our waiter said, having returned with our drinks. He set the glasses of wine down in front of us before whipping out a pad and staring at us intently, waiting for us to order.

"Soba," Kanda said immediately.

The waiter jotted down the order and turned to me. I grimaced before glancing up sheepishly; I really couldn't help what I was about to do. "Could you get me one of everything listed on the menu? In large portions, please."

"Moyashi, we only have an hour to eat and buy the food in the market," Kanda reminded me.

"I'll eat fast."

"Oh no," he grumbled. "You eat like a pig."

"Is . . . is that all, sir?" the waiter asked shakily. "I will have it out to you as . . . as soon as possible."

"Thank you!" I called after him brightly.

**.**

Two hours later, we'd stuffed ourselves full of wonderful, tasty, _edible_ food and bought enough to make our arms sag halfway back. We were back on the ship now, in our cabin, storing the food away in places that I'd forget about or Kanda would hide from me. Otherwise, we both knew it would be gone in about two days.

Kanda was still avoiding me, a fact which annoyed me to no end. I didn't understand why he was doing it, and it was definitely misleading. Earlier, in the restaurant, he hadn't seemed to mind being around me, but now that we were back on the ship, he wasn't talking to me at all, and he was obviously avoiding contact with me. One time, we'd walked right next to each other and my arm had accidentally touched his . . .

He'd flinched away.

"Kanda—"

"It's been a long day," he mused, looking towards the wall. "I'm going to take a nap."

He climbed into the top bunk, avoiding the bottom that we'd been sleeping in for the past two weeks in preference for the unused one.

"What's wrong?" I demanded. This latest event annoyed me more than the rest of it. If he didn't want to be near me, he should just let me know right then and there! It was the least I could ask for . . .

"Nothing," he said tightly.

"You're lying."

"Go see if we've left port yet."

I growled out in frustration and stomped out of the door, waving my right hand behind me in an annoyed wave. It wasn't fair! What was I doing wrong, or what did he see that he _thought _I had done wrong? Sure, I wasn't perfect, but there wasn't anything I'd done to explicitly annoy him. Though . . . I had been pretty under the weather the past week, due to the lack of food, which made me wonder if I'd said something I probably shouldn't have.

But I was lucid the entire time, so that wouldn't make sense.

Whatever it was, _something _was up. I was scared; I didn't want to lose Kanda, not after I'd finally gotten him. And I was determined not to let him go, even if he himself desired it.

Damn. I'd gotten myself worked up into an eating mood.

This was bad.

**.**

The moon was full tonight; I wondered how it had gone from half-filled to completely filled in such a short time. It was beautiful, but at the same time there was a sense of loneliness in it. The night was cloudy; it was as though the stars had decided to hide themselves from the brilliance of the moon. It drifted up there with no one to talk to.

I wanted to share it with Kanda . . . if he'd been out here with me, it would have been an extremely romantic moment. It sort of made me embarrassed to think such . . . girly thoughts, but it didn't matter. I wanted to have more special moments with him, in case our lives ended too early for us to live together for eternity. Though . . . with the way things had been going this past week, I wasn't sure if that would happen anyway.

Blinking tiredly, I stared down at my blackened left hand. All strength had returned to the arm after I'd eaten earlier, but I didn't feel any better. There was a nervous emotion pooling in the pit of my stomach, like I'd eaten one too many marshmallows. I wanted to go back to the cabin, but at the same time I didn't. I'd grown used to sleeping with Kanda. I wanted his warmth, and I had the feeling that if I tried to go to sleep, I would be too cold.

"Kanda . . ." I sighed in longing.

Reluctantly I turned away from the sky and the ocean, preparing to head back down to the cabin. It was late; no one else was out on the top deck. For some reason that made me just the least bit cautious. Something felt wrong about tonight, and it wasn't just because of Kanda ignoring me. There was something in the air that warned me to be careful.

"Where were you?" Kanda huffed as I closed the door softly behind me. I jumped; the samurai was sitting on the couch, arms crossed over his chest tensely. He looked angry and . . . just a bit worried.

"Out on the deck," I said calmly as I walked towards the bottom bunk. "I thought you were going to sleep."

"That was five hours ago."

"Mm." I turned my back to him as I pulled my semi-long hair into a small ponytail. I didn't want to look at his face . . . it just made my emotions that much more jumbled. I was scared that it _wasn't _worry I was seeing.

"Moyashi, what's wrong?" he demanded.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I muttered, climbing into the bed and swiftly squeezing my eyes shut. This . . . it was horrifying, and scary. I could feel my body aching as I yanked the blanket up over me. I didn't want to see Kanda, I didn't want him to know I was so worked up over this . . . and more than anything, I didn't want to be heartbroken.

"This is because of earlier, isn't it?" The mattress dipped, involuntarily pulling my body against something hard and warm. Cautiously I opened my eyes, staring up at Kanda's slender back. That ponytail hung down until it was practically in my face, but I didn't grab it even though I wanted to. I was trying to ignore him, not break and give in to his presence.

And so I remained silent.

"Can I explain?"

". . ."

Apparently Kanda took the silence as a "go on" rather than a "please shut up", and so he continued to speak, quieter than normal in a voice that had me nearly on edge. "I don't . . . know how to act around you," he admitted hesitantly. "I realized that last week, when we were out on the deck. You acted like . . . you would break if someone pushed you too hard, like you used to before the end of the war. Are you afraid?"

I shrugged weakly, still refusing to answer.

"It's just . . . _hell_, Moyashi, I don't know how to stop myself from touching you. If I start touching you, I don't ever want to let go, and I know you don't like it when I'm clingy. I don't know if I can contain myself."

"I don't care as long as it's you," I murmured quietly into my blanket, eyes downcast. I'd officially broken my cold demeanor. But when he was talking like that, so earnestly, what was there not to believe? Kanda was never like this, so seeing him get so emotional over something meant that he really _did _care.

"You're sure?"

I sat up slowly, pushing my face into his back and relaxing at the smell of his recently shampooed hair. "I don't mind. I like it when you touch me. Just don't . . . don't make it seem like you're ignoring me. I thought all week you didn't like me anymore. That scares me worse than you dying, I think."

"I'm sorry." Slowly he turned around, his shoulders hunching so that I could keep leaning against him while his position changed. Soon enough I found my head against his chest, and his arms wrapped around me tightly, squeezing me into what felt like an eternal embrace. I reached up, digging one normal hand and one clawed hand into the comfort of his leather uniform. Kanda was warm, despite what I'd thought about him hating me now. This was the warmth of someone who loved me. A shocking feat . . . but one I did not want to let go.

"Kanda . . ." I sighed quietly in relief.

One calloused hand that was almost larger than my entire face cupped my chin, pulling my head up until, for the first time that night, I was staring fully into his fierce cobalt blue orbs. I felt my heart do a flip, and I gasped softly. There, in those eyes, reflected the love that he felt for me, despite his dark, uncaring demeanor. It was there that I realized there was no way he could have _not _cared for me. There was trust, there was worry . . . there was protection. He really wasn't going to let me go no matter what.

I let out a shuddering breath and jerked my head up to kiss him wholeheartedly, pouring the words I wanted to say into the touch. _Don't say you love me, because you have to be entirely sure before you do, _he'd told me that day in the woods. _Don't love me because I'm the only one left for you to love. Love me because I'm me. _I'd honored that. I had yet to say those three words to him, though he'd said them to me countless times before. I realized now it was because he was entirely sure of his devotion for me. Kanda sincerely loved me . . . and he probably always had, from the moment I first stepped into the Order.

"Can I say it?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"Can I say I love you yet?" I pulled away to look at him. "I think I'll explode if I don't."

"Idiot," he snorted. "Of course you can say it. Whoever said you couldn't this late into it?"

"Kanda," I laughed softly. "Kanda Yuu, I love you."

He grimaced. "That sounded horrible."

"But I like it. I love you, Yuu." And, giggling like crazy at the innuendo, I kissed him again, this time nearly begging for him to take the initiative. He did, and drove his tongue into my mouth, arms tightening once more around me. Kanda tasted sweet and spicy, like the wasabi he'd mixed in with his soba earlier. Wanting to taste even more of him, I replicated his actions, slipping my tongue past his and through his waiting lips. I was met with an explosion of purely _Kanda_. I couldn't explain what he tasted like, only that it tasted like him. I didn't want to let go of that taste.

We pulled away at the same time, taking merely a second before meeting back again, this time tongues colliding in our rush to taste again. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him in as closely as I could to taste and smell at once. I wasn't going to let him go this time. I wasn't going to even _think _that he didn't love me. It was obvious that he did, and he always would, no matter what happened.

"Kanda," I moaned as we pulled away once more. "I'm sorry . . . sorry I ever doubted you."

"You had every right to doubt me," he objected, shaking his head. "I shouldn't have ignored you. I should have just told you. I didn't even realize you were worrying about it."

"Just forget it," I breathed. "Pretend like it never happened. Because I don't . . . don't want to remember."

"You've got it."

Sighing in relief, I rested my head back against his chest, smiling to myself when I felt motherly Kanda instincts kick in; he started rocking back and forth, moving me to the beat of an unheard rhythm. I closed my eyes, thinking that if I could fall asleep like this and never wake up, I would be content. It was . . .

It was so comfortable.

"Oh my. It seems I'm a little too late in claiming Mr. Walker as my own."

Kanda and I jumped apart in the same instant, going on automatic alert, our Innocence fully active and ready to use at a moment's notice. I knew that voice . . . I hadn't heard it in a year, and I'd hoped to never hear it again. "Where are you, Road?" I hissed, eyes searching around frantically through our dark room.

"Not there, that's for certain. You'd tear me to shreds in about ten seconds." There came a childish giggle, echoing around us. "I'm in an alternate reality. That way you won't be able to do anything to me."

"That's not fighting fair," Kanda spat.

"Since when have the Noah ever fought fair, Samurai?" Road snorted. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you . . . enjoy your time together while it lasts, because I will definitely break the two of you up and take Allen as my own. Allen, he's not good enough for you, dear."

"Since when do you know who's good for me? Road, this isn't right! What did you do to Lenalee?"

"_I _didn't do anything to her. That was all Tyki."

"Tyki's alive?" Kanda growled, his grip on Mugen tightening. "How?"

"I don't think you deserve to know quite yet. Hey, Allen, you love your friends, don't you? How about I play a game with them? Tyki's already on his way to the headquarters. Let's see how well they can hold up against us without their Innocence. I can't wait to watch!"

"Road!" I yelled, anger clouding sharp judgment. "You can't win, there are more of us than there are of you!"

"But we have our powers, whereas your powers are all congregated in this one little room. That is, you and Mr. Grumpy. We have the upper hand in this. Face it, Allen, your friends are going to lose. Then it will just be you and me."

"Kanda won't leave me. Kanda will protect me!"

"I'll let you believe that for now," came the condescending laughter once more. "Good-bye, Allen and Kanda. I have a show to watch."

"Road!"

No answer.

"Oh my God," I gasped, deactivating my Innocence slowly. "Kanda, we have to go back, we have to help them—"

"Think rationally, Moyashi." Strong arms grasped my shoulders, halting my fierce shaking. "We're in the middle of the ocean; there's no way we could make it back in time to stop Tyki from attacking them. All we can do is hope for the best. Do you have the golem? The least we can do is warn Komui."

"That's right!" I hissed, reaching blindly for my suitcase. The little golem came to life with the flick of a switch, and then Kanda and I both were yelling frantically for Komui.

"_I get it, I get it; you need to talk to me. What is it?" _

"Tyki!" I yelled at the golem. "Tyki's coming, Komui! You have to tell everyone!"

**.**

Lavi sighed and tugged on the eye patch, tying it slowly behind him into a firm knot before looking up at a very confused Lenalee. "What about this? Do I look a little more familiar?"

Lenalee nodded happily, a smile lighting up her face. "I remember, I'm getting images! You always wore the eye patch; no one ever got to see your eye. And . . . you wore a headband too. Lavi, I remember!"

"Thank God," Lavi breathed, reaching forward to wrap his arms around the girl. Over the past week, the former Bookman had been bringing out items from the past, trying to get Lenalee to remember who everyone was. She had remembered her brother not even two days ago, and had immediately gone running for Komui's office. An hour later, Lavi had found the two on the floor, hugging each other tightly and sobbing their eyes out.

Now Lavi was the only one she had yet to remember, and it seemed to him like Road had made certain she couldn't remember him. However, his appearance had somewhat changed over the past year, and the renewal of the eye patch seemed to bring back her memories. Funny, the things that could make a person's mind click.

"Lavi," Lenalee sobbed quietly. "Why couldn't I remember anyone? Why can't I remember what happened after the war? Why . . . why is everything so different?"

"Road had to have tampered with your memories," he said quietly. "But you're surpassing her expectations. She must have thought you were weak. But you're strong, Lenalee; you remembered. That's such a big accomplishment."

"I feel happy. But . . . but I really wish Allen and Kanda were here. I want to tell them I'm safe now. They seemed so scared of me."

"Nah, they weren't scared. They were just cautious. And besides, it was Road they were worried about, not you. They love you, Lenalee. We all love you."

"Thank you, Lavi," she laughed. "Lavi, Lavi. I remember Lavi. I feel bad I ever forgot about you. You're so special to me."

"I'm special to you?"

"Uh-huh. Lavi protected me so many times. My heart hurts." She lowered her gaze to the floor, pigtails hanging down over her shoulders. "My heart hurts, because you must have been so distraught that I couldn't remember you. I should have remembered!"

"But you remember now, so it's alright. Don't fret about it anymore."

"Yeah."

"We should get a golem and tell Allen and Kanda, though. They'd be delighted to hear from you, don't you think?" Lavi grinned at her encouragingly. "They're probably still on the ship, so I bet they're bored out of their minds—"

The door to the library burst open, and in flew a panicking Komui, beret sitting haphazardly on his horrible bed hair. "Brother?" Lenalee questioned curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Allen and Kanda just contacted me. We have a problem."

"What kind of a—"

"_Akuma!" _Someone shouted down the hall. _"My God, there's an Akuma! A level four!" _

"Oh no . . ." Lavi hissed, face going white. "This isn't good."

**.**

**Longest chapter yet! The beginning of this one didn't flow so well for me, but once I got to the fluff (lol) it got extremely easy. Hopefully the next chapter will come out quicker; I'm so sorry for the huge gap it took for me to update this. D: I'll try and be faster next time! **

**Not to push or anything, but reviews **_**do **_**make me come out with chapters faster. They make me so happy, and the fact that people have such good things to say about my writing and the content makes me jump up and down with joy . . . literally. So I just wanted to say thank you for all the reviews! I'm so close to 100 for this story, something I never expected to happen. Virtual glomps to all of you who take the time out of your day to make little old me feel so good. ^.^ I love you guys! **

**~Shadow**


	13. Passion to Win

**New chapter! Okay, so I officially love Mondays at this new college I'm going to. I commute, and I have a nine o' clock and a five o' clock . . . and nothing in between. So I like taking my laptop and getting in a ton of writing time after I finish my homework. With that in mind, maybe I can get Revelations out a little faster than I've been going? I hope so, at least. **

**OH MY GOD, guys, thank you so much for 100 reviews! I don't know how much to thank you . . . I feel really accomplished by getting so many. Now I smile whenever I start writing this fanfic because I know you guys actually like it. *gives every last one of her readers giant bear hugs* **

**My other Yullen, Lonely Ones, is on hiatus at the moment as we near NaNoWriMo time. Is anyone else participating? I'd love to meet more people that are going through the horror of writing a 50k word book in 30 days . . . *faints* **

**Ahem, anyway. PLOT MOVEMENT! Seems like you guys are pretty excited about knowing what's going on with that super spooky level four that showed up. So why don't we give you a shocker, neh? **

**Rating for this chapter: T **

**Warnings: The typical Yulleny goodness, and some violence on the Order's side of things, and mild language. BAD ROAD! **

**Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man and its hot bishies belong to Katsura Hoshino. **

**Yay, let's get started! **

**.**

"_Akuma! My God, there's an akuma! A Level Four!" _

"Lavi—" Lenalee began, rising to her feet, but the former bookman shoved her back down into her seat, shaking his head. "You're not ready to fight, so don't even try it. Just stay here."

"You can't fight either," Komui sputtered nervously. "Your Innocence shattered. It's a Level Four, Lavi; you'll never beat it without a weapon!"

"And you think anyone else can beat it?" he shot back. "Allen and Kanda are the only ones who can. Even General Teidoll's Innocence is gone. The only one who still has theirs is Krory, and his teeth can't break through a Level Four's shell. It's a hopeless cause anyway! Let me do what I can."

"If that's the case, then why do I have to stay here?" Lenalee cried. "Lavi, I just remembered all of you. I don't want to lose you again!"

"Don't you dare say it's a hopeless cause," Komui hissed.

"But Allen and Kanda—"

"Just because Allen's not here to give you a giant smile of encouragement doesn't mean we can't beat it," the scientist stated firmly. "I believe he's said it before. It's a matter of heart, not of how strong you are. Don't you dare give up faith in yourself."

"Komui . . ." the redhead breathed, blinking in surprise at the scientist. He had a point; the main reason Lavi felt like he was able to go on was because of Allen. He needed to stand up for himself. "Okay," he sighed, turned around. "Lenalee, stay with someone at all times. I guess it's wrong to not let you fight when you still have your Innocence."

"It doesn't work," she replied bluntly.

"Eh?"

"Road did something to it. It's not destroyed, but it . . . I don't know, it does something weird when I activate it."

"_Some backup would be nice!_" came a frantic screech from somewhere down the hallway.

"We don't have time for this right now," Lavi hissed, whirling around. "Lenalee, let's go. Komui, you get somewhere safe . . . and could you try staying in contact with Allen and Kanda? They might have better ideas about how to beat this thing."

"That's the Lavi I know," the scientist chuckled as they ran off, firmly adjusting the beret on his head.

**.**

I had never clutched onto someone so tightly in my life. My Innocence arm was squeezing so hard that it was creating holes in Kanda's shirt and possibly bruising his skin on top of that. I was _terrified_. I'd had a faint feeling that Road would sink this low, but now that it was reality, I couldn't believe it.

"Moyashi, relax." Kanda shifted beneath me on the bed, arms sliding around over my back until they settled around my waist. "You're not the one going through it, it's them."

"That's why I'm so worried!" I pouted. "Road won't hesitate to kill them, and we're not there to stop her . . . I mean, Lavi! Lavi's your best friend; aren't you in the least bit worried about him?"

"Lavi's not my best friend," he automatically growled, but I could see his eyes tighten nervously.

"You _are _worried."

"Che. But I'm not panicking."

"Well, of course I'm panicking! I mean, we don't even know what's going on. It would be nice if we at least had golem contact or something—"

"_Kanda, Allen._"

"Thank God," I breathed. "Are they there, Komui?"

"_They appear to have sent a level four akuma." _

"A Level Four?" Kanda hissed, eyes flickering over to me with unrestrained worry this time. "Komui, maybe you should just evacuate, go into hiding now—"

"_That's not possible at this point. Everyone who can fight right now is in the room with the Akuma. Lavi asked me to keep in contact with you in case you had any immediate advice on how to defeat the akuma. Even Lenalee is with them."_

"Is that a good idea?" I wondered. "What if she starts fighting everyone too?"

"_She won't. Lavi successfully restored her memories; she remembers everyone now. She's fully on our side. But . . ." _

"Komui," I said suddenly. "Can you find a way to let everyone know they should move to the room Hevlaska's in?"

"_What? But all the Innocence . . ." _

"The akuma isn't after the Innocence; it's after the Exorcists. It's the safest place for them to go. I kind of think the Innocence fragments will help protect them."

"_I'll let them know. I'll contact you again in a few moments." _

"Thank you."

"She remembers everything, huh?" Kanda muttered. "Only Lavi would have successfully done that."

"In a sense, Lavi hasn't lost his Innocence at all," I agreed. "But _God_, a Level Four? Kanda, that thing could slaughter them. I've improved a ton since I fought my first one, and I _still _struggle to beat them without your help."

"What's the real reason you told them to move to Hevlaska's room?"

"The Innocence. They can still be compatible with a fragment. Our hearts have changed since last year, for the better I think. A change of heart could awaken a new Innocence fragment to them that wasn't there before. It's really unlikely, but I . . . want to try everything I can to keep them safe."

"I understand." Kanda's hand slid upwards from my waist to my head, his slim fingers brushing comfortingly through my hair. I closed my eyes against the warm gesture, knowing the entire reason his presence was here was to keep me sane in this situation. Though it wasn't a normal gesture from Kanda, I welcomed it.

"Do you remember the first Level Four?" I asked quietly, trying to keep my mind off of the _now_, and back to the _when_.

The samurai gritted his teeth, eyes knitting together in anger. "Of course I do. It's the first time I ever felt helpless."

I nodded in agreement, thinking back to Kanda's face at that point in time. At first, he'd been so determined, eyes glinting with rage for his home being destroyed, holding a normal katana in his sword hand. At the time, I couldn't help thinking that Kanda was so handsome in that sleeveless shirt, even though the sight of the huge tattoo had scared me.

But then, that Level Four had turned around and taken Kanda out so quickly that no one knew what to do. The face Kanda made as he flew backwards was one of extreme fear and doubt. I knew that it had been doubt in his ability to protect what was "his". It had taken Kanda everything he had to get back up and stand against the akuma again, to help Lenalee and me.

But he had, and that was one of the many things that made me admire Kanda more than before. The man that I had first met, who had been so cold and uncaring, had turned into someone much stronger than I could ever hope to be. His concern was genuine, as rarely as it showed up, and he knew when to be serious and when to play around.

Of course, he was overbearingly protective when it came to things like that Level Four.

"What about it?"

"I was just thinking . . . that if we could beat it then, when he had no idea how powerful it was, I'm sure Lavi and the others can beat him now. We know the extent of their strength."

"That's true." Kanda frowned again, this time letting out a soft sigh. "I just want to know how the hell an akuma appeared in the first place. They all died with the Earl."

"Not to mention how it evolved all the way to a Level Four," I agreed. "I really hope they're alright."

"They will be."

**.**

"Lavi!"

The red-haired Exorcist dove behind a pillar, barely dodging the akuma's vicious arm swipe. Instead of Lavi, the wall that connected the main hallway with the cafeteria came crashing down. Bricks and wood showered down on the fighters, coating them all in a thick layer of dust.

"Lavi!" Lenalee yelled again, this time in obvious concern. Despite this, he didn't answer; the recent showering of building supplies had momentarily shielded him from the akuma's senses. She would definitely understand why he didn't calm her fears when it was all done with. Instead, he trained his eyes back on the berserk demon, watching as Arystar attempted once again to bite it. That proved unsuccessful; the Level Four's hard outer shell, coupled with Arystar's weak body from no Akuma blood, made a complete failure. For the third time, the vampire-like Exorcist went flying backwards, not too far from where Lavi was hiding.

The only one that was having success beating up the Akuma was, unsurprisingly, General Teidoll. However, the method he was going about it was ludicrous, to say the least. The man was taking all of his old paint easels and scrap canvases to throw them haphazardly at the crazed machine. Lavi had to dodge flying paint supplies almost as much as he did the true threat. Needless to say, the Akuma—and all of the Exorcists too, for that matter—were covered in vibrant blues, greens, reds, and yellows. Teidoll had managed to get the paint into the Akuma's eyes, so now it couldn't see a thing; that was where most of the advantage came from.

Other than that, though, the Akuma was clearly winning. Krory was already wounded to the point of exhaustion, Lavi himself was bleeding from his arm, and Miranda was cowering who knew where down the hall. Lenalee was standing far away from the fighting, trying in vain to activate her Dark Boots. That, as well, seemed useless.

This was getting out of hand. There was no way they could beat the Level Four without any Innocence, and since the only Innocence pieces that worked were somewhere in between China and England, that wasn't going to become a possibility in the next few minutes. The least they could do was hope to hold out until the Akuma was distracted and then make a break for it. Evacuation via running away was, unfortunately, the only option they really had left.

A golem stationed nearby that had yet to be destroyed crackled to life unexpectedly, and Komui's voice yelled frantically through it. _"Can someone hear me?" _

"Yeah!" Lavi replied guardedly. If the Akuma heard him speak . . .

"_I've received word from Allen and Kanda. Allen wants you to move to the room where Hevlaska is. He believes that since the Akuma is after you and not the Innocence, you'll have a better chance of surviving there. I think he places most of his faith in those fragments." _

"There's little chance of us moving right now, much less making a break for that room," Lavi hissed in reply, trying to remain as quiet as possible.

"_Are you close to any of the others?"_

"Just Krory. Teidoll managed to blind the Akuma, but it's got a very strong smelling and hearing range. Hevlaska is all the way across the Order, Komui. I don't know if we can make it that far!" _Shit . . ._ The Level Four was turning its head in Lavi's general direction; since no one was attacking it at the moment, trying to regain their strength, it was more sensitive to what was going on around it. if Lavi or Komui talked anymore, he would surely be noticed.

Of course, he didn't have the luxury of stopping Komui from answering. _"Tell Krory to pass it on to the others. Allen insists that you get to Hevlaska. He's worried about all of you, Lavi. From the sound of things, Kanda was forcefully trying to calm him down. You have to do whatever you can to—"_

Crunch.

Lavi slowly glanced up at the horrific, paint-covered face of the Level Four, watching as the golem seemed to fall to the ground in slow motion. Its eyes weren't focused on anything in particular, but the evil grin that it sported let Lavi know that this machine knew _exactly _what it was doing. He barely managed to squeak out a quick, "Yikes!" before a giant hand came down on top of him.

**.**

"Something bad just happened," I whispered into Kanda's ear. My body tensed slightly at the nauseating sense that all was not well with the Akuma battle. My Innocence seemed to sense the distraught emotions going through all of the Exorcists.

I was laying on my side now, my face pressed firmly up against Kanda's black muscle shirt. I'd released my hands from him after realizing that I was hurting him and instead had to settle for gripping the sheets with nervousness. My only true comfort was the fact that he still had his arms wrapped tightly around me, his breath ghosting into my ear in a comforting rhythm. I couldn't take much more of the suspense . . . it was driving me crazy, and my companion seemed to understand that. While I grew increasingly frustrated, he himself maintained his normal frown, the only evidence of his own worry being the dark color of his eyes.

"Your face is pale," he commented nonchalantly. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I feel sick," I muttered. "I don't want to be here. I don't want to sit here doing nothing. Road did this on purpose. She wants to see me angry."

"So don't show it to her."

"It's not that simple!" I raised my shaking right hand to my face, placing it over my eyes so that Kanda wouldn't be able to see the tears threatening to burst out. "Kanda, she knows that my fear is of our friends dying. That's why she's doing this. And that's why, if they die, we'll never be able to see them again. I don't want to come back to an empty home."

"We won't come back to an empty home," Kanda firmly replied. He pulled down my hand to kiss the back of it gently, an act that surprised me. "They'll be there, waiting for us with open arms. Don't you dare believe otherwise."

"Kanda," I breathed softly. "I—"

"_Allen, Kanda!"_

My body sprang upwards, eyes going wide at the frantic tone of Komui's voice. "What happened?" I demanded fiercely.

"_I lost contact with them. I had just enough time to tell Lavi where to go, but I believe the Akuma destroyed the golem and went after Lavi. I don't know how they are now."_

"But he knows to get everyone to Hevlaska?"

"_I got that much out."_

"Thank goodness," I sighed. "Komui, are you in a safe place?"

"_If you mean safe from the Akuma, I'm as far away as I can possibly get. Lavi said that it was blind now thanks to Teidoll Its sense of smell and sound are top notch, though. I believe I'm far enough away." _

"How in the world did that old fart make it blind?" Kanda snorted.

"Probably threw paint in its eyes," I giggled. "Komui, I know you might not know anything else from now on, but if you find out anything, please inform us."

"_Of course. I'm sure both of you are very anxious right now." _

"If you get in touch with them again, let them know that we're praying for them."

"_Will do." _

"Moyashi," Kanda growled as the golem alerted the signal had broken. "We haven't been praying. Why'd you say that?"

"Well, I'm praying," I grumbled, lowering my face to his chest once more. "My inner mind is going 'God keep them safe, God keep them safe'."

"That doesn't work."

"You're right, it never has before. But there's no harm in trying. If they get out of this alive, I'm going to thank God from the bottom of my heart. I hope . . . I really hope the Innocence can help them. Kanda?"

"Huh?"

"Keep holding me tight, okay? Until all of this is over. Don't let me go, because if you do, I might lose it."

Kanda snorted, bending his head down to kiss my forehead right over that blasted pentacle sign. Slowly, one of his hands ran through my hair, and with it, my shoulders seemed to lose all of their tension. "You baka," he whispered into my ear. "I will _never _let you go. Even after all of this is over."

I laughed faintly and smiled to myself. "Good."

**.**

"Lavi, are you okay?" Lenalee demanded fiercely between pants.

"I'm fine," came the stoic reply. "You need to be quiet; it can hear us."

Truthfully, Lavi was not fine. That last hit from the Level Four had left him bleeding from more places than one, and he suspected his arm was broken. Luckily he'd been able to briefly tell everyone where to run to. They'd all thought it was a fool's errand at first . . . until he blatantly informed them that it was Allen's wish for them to go to the innocence. Immediately the idea opened up possibilities for them, and they made an extreme effort into dashing down the hallway. Currently they were halfway to their destination; somehow they'd managed to leave the Akuma behind by about fifty feet.

They were lucky they hadn't been found yet.

"Quick evaluation," Lavi hissed. "Is everyone still able to fight?"

"I'm perfectly unharmed," Lenalee muttered apologetically. Her proclamation was followed with a quick nod from Miranda, who was quite literally quaking in her boots.

"A small scratch to the shoulder; otherwise I am perfectly fine as well," Teidoll announced.

"And Krory?"

"Forgive me," the Vampire-like Exorcist huffed. "I am too busy concentrating on running."

"Understood." Lavi couldn't resist an amused grin, despite the situation. "In other words, we can all fight if we have to. That's good."

A resounding boom echoed from somewhere further along the hallway. Lavi grimaced and chanced a swift look back. He could barely see the Level Four through all the turns of the hallway, but just before they went around the corner, he caught a glimpse of the Akuma slamming its fist into the nearby wall. It was getting closer . . .

"Can we run any faster?" he hissed.

"No, Lavi," Krory panted weakly. "I'm struggling to keep up anyway."

"If my boots worked I could move us there a lot faster," Lenalee muttered unhappily.

"Don't worry about that right now," Lavi quickly replied, weakly attempting to cheer her up. "You're not the only one who can't use their innocence. There's a reason Allen is sending us to where the rest of the Innocence is. He probably believes that we'll survive if we're there."

"If it's Allen, I'll believe anything he says," Miranda broke in nervously.

"That's why we have to be strong, then. We have a perfectly logical reason." Lavi turned his gaze back to the front, nearly letting out a cry of relief when he saw the door that they were running towards. "Almost there!"

Which, of course, brought to mind quite abruptly a simple question. What in the world were they supposed to do once they got there? Stand in front of Hevlaska and hope for a miracle? Or attack until the Innocence deemed them worthy enough to protect?

There was always the option that the Innocence was going to be no help at all and they would die in that room.

All of those thoughts flew out of Lavi's head the second a crash from directly behind them sent shrapnel flying all too close to him. He whirled around, his one visible eye widening in shock at the Akuma that towered over him. How had it gained so much ground in such a short time? Unless . . . its power had something to do with speed. But if that were the case, then why was it waiting until just now before exercising that power?

And then, for the first time, the Level Four spoke. It began with that infuriating, baby-like giggle, and then the blind Akuma grinned viciously and announced, "You're getting tired. That means my play time is almost over."

"Our intent wasn't to play with you," Lenalee muttered under her breath; Lavi could barely hear the complaint.

"You're Road's doll!" the Akuma screeched happily, its grin widening if that were even possible. "You're supposed to be on our side, aren't you? So what are you doing down there? Come help me fight these bastards. Kill them for subjecting you to their torturous ways."

"I'm sorry, but I'm fully on their side," the pigtailed girl announced bravely. Lavi smiled slightly at the sight; the young Lee sibling stood with angered eyes, her hands on her hips in a fashion so like the girl he was used to that it was obvious whose side she was on. "Allen says we'll defeat you, and I believe him, just like everyone else. You'll die soon, Akuma, not us. And then the poor soul inside of your body can be spared."

"Oh dear," the Level Four replied, laughing even harder. "You really think you'll win? Lady Road has given me specific instructions to kill anyone who resists. Do you say you're resisting us?"

"I'll never go back to you."

Lavi ferociously shoved the door open while the Akuma was preoccupied. The others were, luckily, paying close attention to him, and as soon as the heavy wood slid open, every last one of the Exorcists had dove into the room, swiftly slamming the door behind them before the Level Four could enter as well. "Oh God," Lavi panted frantically. "That's not going to hold it for very long. We need to think of something _fast._"

"Hevlaska, how are you doing?" Lenalee asked quietly, staring up at the ghostly apparatus that still remained even through everything they had been through to protect the Innocence.

"_Precious child_," Hevlaska sighed gratefully. _"You have retuned to us. God grants kindness to us lowly beings on earth. I am well, young one." _

"We're very sorry for invading your space," Teidoll proclaimed. "As soon as the situation is over, we will grant you room again."

"_I do not mind. Your presence here is soothing." _

"Right now it won't be," Lavi moaned, wincing as the Akuma banged harshly on the door.

"Now that we're here . . . what is there to do?" Krory asked cautiously.

Lavi froze. Krory was absolutely _right_. There was nothing they could do besides hide and wait for the end to come. Suddenly, everything seemed pointless. As much as Allen had wanted them to be here . . . there was nothing. It was a silly hope, after all, that the Innocence would save them. The real war was over; this was just one of the Noah entertaining themselves, out for revenge. There was no _real _crisis. After all, once they were gone, what in the world would Road do? She couldn't take over the world. As skilled as she might have believed she was, she would never be strong enough to complete the Earl's task.

There was nothing they could do.

The red-head moaned softly and slid down against the door into a sitting position. His hand rose slowly to rub at the black eye patch he'd forgotten to take off. Were they going to die now? Was _he _going to die? Goodness knew he didn't want to let Allen and Kanda come back to their decaying, rotting bodies. He didn't want Komui to find his dearest sister's corpse so soon after he had regained her. But what choice did they have? There was no savior to come to their rescue this time. It was them, and them alone. Locked in a room with unforgiving Innocence and an ancient Exorcist who would witness everything.

They were going to die.

"Lavi?" Miranda questioned softly as the banging on the door grew louder and more forceful. "Lavi, what's wrong?"

"We've just found our grave," he whispered, to no one in particular but himself.

"No, Lavi!" Lenalee ran forward, snatching the red-head's hands away from his face to grasp them firmly in her own. "You're thinking that we're going to die, aren't you? Do you think there's no way to live through this?"

"Just think about it," he sighed. "We can't fight back, and we're getting beaten up. Lenalee, there's no way we can win. That Akuma will crush us. We should just—"

"Don't you _ever _give up, you idiot," she growled, the grip on his hands becoming painfully tight. "Allen would be ashamed of you. Are you even thinking about him? Think of why he sent us in here. Allen does not blindly force us into traps. Allen thinks of ways to get out of tight situations such as this one. So if Allen said we're going to be protected in here, then dammit, we're going to be protected in here. If you give up, the Innocence is never going to help you. I'm not giving up, and that's why I _know _we can defeat that hideous looking thing. You got that?"

"Lenalee . . ." he breathed with his one eye widened from shock. Ever since she had lost her hair so long ago, she'd become a shell of what she really was. She'd become a weak, helpless little girl who sought out others for protection. But _this _Lenalee, the one in front of him right now, was confident and completely sure about the situation. Just like old times, she was using her own thoughts to strengthen the hearts of everyone else. Just like . . .

Just like Allen.

Lavi opened his mouth to answer, to tell Lenalee that of course she was right, that he should stop acting like a fool and brave up to himself like the man he was . . . but he never got the chance. As the first syllable left his mouth, the door flew open, the impact sending Lavi's body flying all the way across the room and into the opposite wall. Lenalee was struck as well, though not nearly as harshly. The Akuma stood there, grinning in its lunacy, sightless eyes roving around the room. "Just what do you think you're doing, eh?" it giggled. "This is a really bad hiding place. But I like hide and seek. So I gave you a minute to hide anyway. Guess what? I caught you!"

"Lavi!"

Lavi coughed weakly, spitting blood out of his mouth that had come up from his lungs. There was something wrong with his back; he couldn't get up, and he couldn't feel his lower half at all. He glanced to the side, where Hevlaska was, eye locking on the few pieces of Innocence that remained in the ethereal being's care. If he could just get near to it . . . maybe, just maybe, something might happen!

Lenalee was on her feet again, foolishly demanding her boots to work once again and only being met with resistance. Miranda stood nervously in the center of the room, completely unsure as to what to do. Of the Exorcists present, she was the most useless; she had no fighting power whatsoever. She needed to get out of the way . . .

Teidoll began throwing paint around again, this time aiming for the Akuma's disfigured nose and ear areas. It spurred everyone else into action; while the Level Four was distracted with the horrid-smelling paint, Miranda dove for Lavi, choosing to assist him rather than attempt to fight. Lenalee ferociously kicked the Akuma's feet and calves; while the Innocence wasn't activating, the fact remained that they were steel boots with a painful strength. Krory, as well, tried biting into the Akuma's firm mechanical covering one more time.

"Lavi?" Miranda asked cautiously, hand drifting to his back. He hissed at the initial contact; as he'd thought, his spine was broken. But he gritted his teeth and ignored the pain, instead focusing his attention back on the protected Innocence.

"You need to straighten the bone," he told Miranda calmly.

"But I don't—"

"I don't think it's going to matter how well you do anyway. Just try your best. And hurry; I need to move."

Lenalee shrieked, her hair flying into her face as the Akuma blindly struck her in the stomach. She collapsed to the floor, her body curling around her injury automatically as she gasped for air. "Da . . . damn you, stupid Akuma . . ."

"Can you still stand?" Teidoll demanded.

"Give me a moment . . ."

The Akuma laughed then, an action that was completely unexpected considering the current situation. "Little girl," it announced, looking straight at the pigtailed Chinese.

"You can see!"

"Oh, you thought I couldn't? What a foolish notion. I can see you! And that means you aren't hiding anymore. I win!"

Lavi struggled not to scream as Miranda efficiently snapped his spine back into place. His head jerked to the side, and with it he could see the Akuma advancing calmly towards a wounded Lenalee. It was going in for a kill . . . he had to do something. Ferociously he pushed Miranda away, using his arms to pull himself towards Hevlaska and the Innocence stored within her. He had to believe that they could all get out of this alive. He had to believe that Allen and Kanda would come back to open arms. Dammit, he had to protect them!

"You look pretty miserable," the Akuma giggled to Lenalee, staring down curiously. Lenalee did not answer, instead choosing to glare up at the mechanical _thing_ with fierce, dark eyes. She couldn't move, quite obviously, but despite that she kept her courage. She would not let the Level Four know just how terrified she was.

A bare, cold metal foot came down to rest lightly on her head. She gasped softly, feeling the weight that came along with that touch. With a slight push, her head would be crushed.

"Well?" the Akuma questioned happily. "Are none of you going to save her?"

No one moved. It wasn't that they didn't want to; if any of them had some semblance of a chance, they would have gone for it. However, it was very clear that if anyone so much as took one step forward, the Level Four would slaughter them. There was more of a chance for Lenalee to survive if no one made an attempt. She understood this, and so with a deep swallow to her fear, she shut her eyes and waited for the boasting the Akuma would surely host.

"You're silly," the thing giggled. "I don't understand you, little girl. Why would you betray Mistress Road? She would give you anything you ever asked for."

"I . . . already have everything I need right here," she replied weakly, refusing to open her eyes. "I don't need the world. All I need are real friends. Ones that will protect me."

"Some friends these are, standing there without doing anything." The pressure on her head increased slightly; she whimpered as her skull pressed down against the hard concrete floor. Any more pressure and the bone might crack . . . "I wonder if Mistress Road will be mad at me for killing you, but I don't care. You need to die."

"Ngh . . ."

"Haha, you're in pain! So delicious!" The foot pushed in again, and the crack was obvious to everyone in the room. Lenalee screamed, her hands flying up to her head in a vain attempt to pry the foot off of her.

"Ah ah, girly!" The Akuma downright laughed, the sound shaking the walls of the room. "It's time to die now!"

A single tear slid down the Chinese girl's porcelain face . . .

A bright light emitted from Hevlaska without warning, blinding everyone in the room. It wasn't white . . . no, it was green. And as soon as the Exorcists' eyes adjusted to the unnatural light, what they saw was completely unexpected.

Lavi stood firmly in the midst of Hevlaska's girth, eyes shut tightly, a furious wind whipping through the area to throw his clothes and hair all over himself. The Innocence in Hevlaska's care was reacting to the red-head's presence and glowing faintly; it was the cause of the green glow that emitted to every corner of the room. Pure _power _emanated from him, seeping through the hearts of the helpless fighters. This was . . . it was . . .

The Innocence fragments went flying in all different directions, ramming into the Exorcists' bodies, more than once in several cases. One by one they were encased into their own halo of light, sparks of light in the otherwise dark room. The Akuma's foot left Lenalee's head and stumbled backwards as the Chinese girl rose to her feet as well, eyes burning with a light that could only be explained as unnatural. The Exorcists lined up, side by side, in front of the offending demon.

And Lavi, still inside of Hevlaska, slowly opened his eyes . . .

One eye dilated until the entire globe was a bright, glowing green . . . and the eye patch fell from his right eye, displaying a black hole of darkness. He opened his mouth . . .

"Innocence . . ."

Hair swirling around his face created shadows normally not possible on his handsome face. He held out both hands, facing them palms outward towards the confused Akuma. The multicolored eyes locked firmly on their target, the black one swirling dangerously until the ebony surrounded his entire body. Hands tilted once more . . .

"Activate."

**.**

**FINALLY, it's done! Gomen, this was such a late update . . . but it was a really hard chapter to write, since I'm horrible at fighting scenes. The next chapter will be more fluffy and stuff, I promise. **

**AND . . . I have a really big urge to draw Lavi the way I just described him, though I bet I'll fail epicly at it. I can dream, though. **

**I'm not promising anything at all, but because the next chapter doesn't involve evil fighting scenes and such, it might be present before NaNo starts. Cross your fingers. ;) **

**Ooh! Just about 6,000 words on this chapter too. I really wasn't expecting it to be that long . . . **

**~Shadow**


	14. Unanswered Questions

**Ugh . . . I'm so sorry for the extremely late update. I don't think I've ever updated so slowly on this fic before. I'll try to creep my way into being a little faster. Now that NaNo is over, I should have more time to write. **

**I wanted to thank my anonymous reviewers; because I can't answer your reviews, it makes me feel very sad. But on the other hand, it makes me happy to see some of them. And a couple of the anons are faithful reviewers that come back every chapter. For that, I'm very grateful. Giant chocolate chip cookies (unless you like macadamia nut, like me) for you guys! *bows* **

**Um . . . so yeah, I'm just going with my gut when it comes to the new Innocences I've shot at our beloved Exorcists. I briefly considered allowing Komui to become an Exorcist, but I thought that would take away from the storyline seeing as how Komui's the person everyone comes back to after a hard mission. They need Komui to remain at the Order, not to go gallivanting off with his sister all the time. *chortles* **

**Ratings for this chapter: K+ . . . a bunch of fluff right after a battle should please you guys, neh? Maybe some Yulleny kissing . . . XD**

**Oh yes. For the Japanese folk tale I added in. I got the story from ****.edu****, but the original source was a book by Andrew Lang, called **_**The Crimson Fairy Book.**_** All rights go to the original source. The tale is in no way mine. **

**Warnings: Eh . . . nothing except for mild language and the like. And an extremely OOC Kanda, but that's what you get when you write a Yullen. XD No bloody stuff in this chapter. Again, this is after-battle fluff and bad guy tie-ups, to make the readers very happy. At least, I hope you'll be happy with this . . . **

**Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man is the property of Hoshino Katsura. Even after all this time writing fanfictions, I still don't own it. If I did, that dumb Fourteenth would have been booted out of Allen's body before it was even present. **

…**hence the reason there is no Fourteenth in this fic. .**

**.**

The sound of a crackling loudspeaker was what woke me up early in the morning, but it wasn't the first thing that registered in my mind. What did was the encircling warmth that kept my eyes closed and my head foggy. Kanda . . . I was sleeping against Kanda, and his arms were firm and strong around me. I hadn't felt his grasp since he'd been avoiding me, and now that it was there, I didn't ever want to let it go. I smiled softly to myself and cuddled further against him . . .

"_Hoi! If one of you two don't answer I'm going to tell the Order you've died and gone to Yaoi Heaven!" _

"Lavi?" I burst upright, succeeding in waking up my companion in the same instant. That voice confirmed several things without telling me anything outright. They'd won, and they weren't dead. Which meant Road had failed, and even though that would probably make things worse in the long run, it made me grin victoriously.

"_Bout time." _

"What the hell do you want?" Kanda grumbled, holding a hand to his head as he reluctantly sat up. From the look in his eyes, I could tell he was relieved as well, but he chose to hide his reassurance with his normal gruff attitude. "Some companion you are, waking us up when we haven't had a wink of sleep all night."

"_And you think I have? Komui is taking care of Lenalee, so I said I would tell you what happened." _

"What's wrong with Lenalee?" I asked, sliding smoothly into Kanda's lap.

"_That dumb Akuma stepped on her head and cracked her skull. But Komui said there's no damage to her brain, so she'll be fine. It honestly didn't look good for the longest time. But . . . the strangest thing happened."_

"What do you mean?"

"_Sending us to Hevlaska was a good idea, Allen. I . . . wanted to get to the Innocence, because the Level Four was going to kill Lenalee. And then the Innocence sucked me into Hevlaska. Every single piece of the Innocence Hevlaska housed went flying, and . . . we were all compatible with at least one piece." _

Kanda frowned, glancing at my face curiously. I was just as mystified as he, though. "So was there any Innocence left over?"

"_None. I have three pieces within me. General Teidoll has two, Miranda and Krory have one, and Lenalee received two on top of her boots. Hevlaska only had nine pieces remaining. We are all compatible, on . . . a General's level. The Akuma was beaten within seconds." _

"It's almost like it was distributed," I breathed. "I wonder what will happen to the Innocence we transport from China. But Lavi . . . the point is, everyone is okay? That's the only thing I'm concerned about."

"_Everyone is going to survive, if that's the question. I told you about Lenalee. Krory was hurt the worst; a few bones were broken because he kept throwing himself at the Akuma. Miranda and General Teidoll got by with barely a scratch. I've been confined to bed; damn Level Four broke my back." _

"That's bad!" I cried. "Are you paralyzed?"

"_No. Komui brought a couple nurses in from London, and they said the injury isn't as serious as it looks. I'll be back to normal in a couple of weeks." _

"Che." Kanda pushed me off of his lap and onto the floor, where I landed with a loud thump. "I'm going back to sleep. There's obviously nothing to worry about."

"Kanda!" I rose to my feet and grabbed his long ponytail to yank on it. "So mean! I was just going to go back to sleep too, but now I'm wide awake!"

"You're the one that sat on me."

"That doesn't give you the right to push me off! I was comfortable!"

"Let go of my damn hair, Moyashi!"

"_Heh," _the golem sent. _"Sounds like things are normal on that end—"_

"You're still there?" I yelled at the same time as Kanda.

"_Okay, okay! Sheesh, there's no dealing with you two. I'll talk to you later. Don't go and kill each other." _And with that, the golem shut off its connection.

I sighed and let go of Kanda's ponytail. After a short moment of silence, I sat back down on the floor and rested my forehead against one of the older Exorcist's knees, both hands rising to take firm grips on the black fabric of his pants. "I was so worried . . . I'm glad everything turned out alright."

Kanda didn't reply, not that I expected him to; he was too much of a cold turkey to let even me know whether he was worried or not. But his hand rested on my head for a few seconds before comfortingly running through my white hair. All the worry I'd been carrying for the past several hours slowly eased away until I could feel a smile threatening to break loose on my face.

_Everyone was all right. _

"Are you hungry?" Kanda questioned. "You haven't eaten since we were at the port."

"I've been too worried to eat."

"Idiot. Road will take advantage of you one of these times and get you when you haven't eaten. You need to keep your strength up."

"I know. I'll eat now."

"Are you fine now?" Kanda asked gruffly. I glanced up at him quizzically to find his face turned away from mine awkwardly . . .

And I grinned when I realized he had a huge, bright red blush all across his cheeks.

"Kandy, you're blushing!" I laughed in amusement.

"Just shut up and chow."

"Yes, sir." And yet, I couldn't control that last amused giggle that broke free. Kanda blushing was . . . it was . . .

Kind of _sexy_.

"Stop staring at me like that," Kanda grumped, staring back from the corner of his eye, his head still cocked irritatingly to the side. That changed the endearment from _sexy_ to _cute_ in a matter of milliseconds, and then I couldn't control what my own body decided to do. I lunged forward and threw my arms around him, the force of my hug making both of us drop back onto the bed. "What are you doing?" he protested lividly.

"Don't get mad at me, 'kay?" I smirked. "But . . . that expression you just made . . . Kanda, you're so cute."

"Moyashi," he growled, yanking me off of him. "I'm not the cute one in this relationship, so don't you dare call me that."

"So who _is_ the cute one?" I asked innocently.

"B-baka!" he stuttered, the blush rising to his face yet again. "You seriously can't expect me to say that out loud!" He cleared his throat, and cobalt eyes rose hesitantly to meet mine. "You should know without me having to say it."

"That's something you would say," I sighed contentedly, giving him another hug despite the fact that he'd just tried to get me off of him. Then, embarrassingly, my stomach growled quite loudly, interrupting what would have been a perfect moment to kiss him. I grimaced uncomfortably and climbed off of the bed to dig out something to eat. "Sorry," I laughed wryly.

"Just eat something," he replied, lying back down on the bed. "I'm going back to sleep for awhile."

"I'll join you in a minute. We didn't exactly get a lot of sleep last night." I reached behind the couch and pulled out the large bag of dango.

"You're going to eat those already?" The samurai stared at me incredulously. "Shouldn't you save them?"

"Nope." I stuck one in my mouth happily and then spoke around it. "When 'm 'ungry, 'ango makesh i' 'etter."

"What?"

"Never mind." I waved a hand at him idly. "Go back to sleep."

Kanda scowled and moved over to the far side of the bed before rolling onto his side, the blanket sliding up to his mid-chest.

I stared curiously at this. "Why did you move?"

"So you won't climb over me, obviously," he huffed, and then squeezed his eyes closed. I smiled docilely. While he was trying to cover it up with a reasonable excuse, I knew that he was moving to make room for me. He was giving me an invitation to cuddle. And I, of course, saw no reason to decline it.

It was amusing to see this side of Kanda. The former me never would have gotten to see this strange demeanor. He was a lot nicer than he appeared to be, and he was letting his shield fall to his side around me. This was something no one else would ever get a glimpse of. Something that only I had the pleasure of witnessing. I was liking this kind Japanese man a lot more with each day that passed.

However . . . that didn't mean I was going to listen to everything he had so say.

Because he _was _cute.

**.**

"Lavi!" A sharp clattering of steps . . . a thump . . . a crash . . . and then the infirmary door swung open to reveal a heavily panting Miranda. The woman jerked her head up excitedly to gasp out, "Lenalee is awake!"

"Eh?" Lavi had been adjusting the black eye patch around on his face, quite a bit upset at having to wear it again. At Miranda's grand entrance, he stopped playing and stuck it back over his right eye. He smiled at the news. "How is she? Her memories?"

"They're fine, she remembers everything." The woman took a moment to calm her breathing down and then came to sit down at the edge of his bed. "Komui said the crack isn't so large after all."

"Hmm." Lavi frowned. "Is it just me, or are all of our injuries 'not as bad as we thought'? Miranda, when you set my spine back into place, how bad did it feel?"

"Ah . . . um . . ." She hung her head, only to glance at him out of the corner of her eye. "I thought you would be permanently paralyzed. But the bone has already fused back into place. Um . . . do you think maybe it was a side effect of the innocence?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking." Lavi raised his hand to touch the eye patch again. Underneath it was no trace of his original, emerald-colored eye. Now, it was completely black, and every now and then a sharp twinge would alert him to the fact that the Innocence was _restless_. He wondered vaguely if this was how Allen felt with his arm. Parasitic Innocence was surely a new experience he never thought he would have the liberty of testing out. "How is your Innocence doing?"

"It's an equipment type, so I doubt it's annoying me like yours is to you." Miranda lifted her right hand, where a ring rested on her middle finger. It was the same glowing green as the rest of their Innocence, but it looked deceivingly weaker than it really was.

"It looks like it's attached to you fully." Lavi sighed. "It's all so strange, don't you think? That all of the Innocence came at once? We always believed that the Innocence belonged to one person only. But some of us have more than one piece."

"Um . . . I may be wrong," Miranda muttered softly, her voice nothing like the stuttering mess it normally was, "but maybe God knew there would be something worse than the Earl coming? And the Innocence was being saved for when we really needed it. That level four was _nothing _once we had obtained the new Innocence. The Earl would have been defeated in an instant if we'd had this before."

"You never know the will of God," Lavi agreed with a laugh. "Thank you for telling me about Lenalee, Miranda. If you see her before I do, tell her I'm glad she's okay."

"She asked about you, Lavi," she replied vaguely. "What should I tell her?"

"That I'm fine as well." He smiled at her in relief. "I'm fine as long as we all made it out alive. Aha, I'm sounding like Allen now, aren't I?"

"Just a bit," Miranda giggled. "I'll tell her. Oh! And Komui said that if you behave you can get up tomorrow."

"Somehow that sounds like a threat . . ." the red-head whispered under his breath.

**.**

"So I see you're getting used to being out on the deck," I laughed quietly, flopping down on the chair next to Kanda.

"Oi!" he protested immediately. "There's not enough room!"

"So let me sit on your lap."

"No way."

"So deal with it."

A soft growl emitted from his throat, and then I found myself sitting firmly on top of Kanda, back pressed against his chest, his hands holding onto a book in front of me. I laughed once in triumph, but he moved one hand to prod warningly at my waist. "You start moving around and I'm pushing you off."

"Yes sir." I leaned forward to stare at the book in his hands. "What are you reading?"

Wordlessly the samurai flipped the book over to show me the title. I frowned unhappily at the blaring sight of Japanese Kanji; there was no way I knew what that book said. But before I could protest, Kanda grunted out, "It's a book of old Japanese folk tales."

"Oh," I breathed. "Are there any good ones?"

"I was reading _The Stonecutter_."

"What is it about?"

"Greed."

"Greed?" I tilted my head back to look at him curiously. "It's rather odd for you to be reading something about greed."

"It's just the one I was reading," he snorted.

"Will you read it to me?"

"I don't need to read it. It's memorized."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. "Is it a favorite?"

"Something like that." He shifted, laying the book down in my lap and wrapping his arms around my waist. Then he leaned forward, mouth just against my ear, and whispered the story to me.

**. **

_Once upon a time there lived a stonecutter, who went every day to a great rock in the side of a big mountain and cut out slabs for gravestones or for houses. He understood very well the kinds of stones wanted for the different purposes, and as he was a careful workman he had plenty of customers. For a long time he was quite happy and contented, and asked for nothing better than what he had. _

_Now in the mountain dwelt a spirit which now and then appeared to men, and helped them in many ways to become rich and prosperous. The stonecutter, however, had never seen this spirit, and only shook his head, with an unbelieving air, when anyone spoke of it. But a time was coming when he learned to change his opinion. _

_One day the stonecutter carried a gravestone to the house of a rich man, and saw there all sorts of beautiful things, of which he had never even dreamed. Suddenly his daily work seemed to grow harder and heavier, and he said to himself: "Oh, if only I were a rich man, and could sleep in a bed with silken curtains and golden tassels, how happy I should be!" _

_And a voice answered him: "Your wish is heard; a rich man you shall be!" _

_At the sound of the voice the stonecutter looked around, but could see nobody. He thought it was all his fancy, and picked up his tools and went home, for he did not feel inclined to do any more work that day. But when he reached the little house where he lived, he stood still with amazement, for instead of his wooden hut was a stately palace filled with splendid furniture, and most splendid of all was the bed, in every respect like the one he had envied. He was nearly beside himself with joy, and in his new life the old one was soon forgotten. _

_It was now the beginning of summer, and each day the sun blazed more fiercely. One morning the heat was so great that the stonecutter could scarcely breathe, and he determined he would stop at home till the evening. He was rather dull, for he had never learned how to amuse himself, and was peeping through the closed blinds to see what was going on in the street, when a little carriage passed by, drawn by servants dressed in blue and silver. In the carriage sat a prince, and over his head a golden umbrella was held, to protect him from the sun's rays. _

_"Oh, if I were only a prince!" said the stonecutter to himself, as the carriage vanished around the corner. "Oh, if I were only a prince, and could go in such a carriage and have a golden umbrella held over me, how happy I should be!" _

_And a prince he was. Before his carriage rode one company of men and another behind it; servants dressed in scarlet and gold bore him along, the coveted umbrella was held over his head, everything his heart could desire was his. But yet it was not enough. He looked around still for something to wish for, and when he saw that in spite of the water he poured on the grass the rays of the sun scorched it, and that in spite of the umbrella held over his head each day his face grew browner and browner, he cried in his anger: "The sun is mightier than I; oh, if I were only the sun!" _

_And the mountain spirit answered: "Your wish is heard; the sun you shall be." _

_And the sun he was, and felt himself proud in his power. He shot his beams above and below, on earth and in heaven; he burnt up the grass in the fields and scorched the faces of princes as well as of poorer folk. but in a short time he began to grow tired of his might, for there seemed nothing left for him to do. Discontent once more filled his soul, and when a cloud covered his face, and hid the earth from him, he cried in his anger: "Does the cloud hold captive my rays, and is it mightier than I? Oh, that I were a cloud, and mightier than any!" _

_And the mountain spirit answered: "Your wish is heard; a cloud you shall be!" _

_And a cloud he was, and lay between the sun and the earth. He caught the sun's beams and held them, and to his joy the earth grew green again and flowers blossomed. But that was not enough for him, and for days and week he poured forth rain till the rivers overflowed their banks, and the crops of rice stood in water. Towns and villages were destroyed by the power of the rain, only the great rock on the mountainside remained unmoved. The cloud was amazed at the sight, and cried in wonder: "Is the rock, then, mightier than I? Oh, if I were only the rock!" _

_And the mountain spirit answered; "Your wish is heard; the rock you shall be!" _

_And the rock he was, and gloried in his power. Proudly he stood, and neither the heat of the sun nor the force of the rain could move him. "This is better than all!" he said to himself. But one day he heard a strange noise at his feet, and when he looked down to see what it could be, he saw a stonecutter driving tools into his surface. Even while he looked a trembling feeling ran all through him, and a great block broke off and fell upon the ground. Then he cried in his wrath: "Is a mere child of earth mightier than a rock? Oh, if I were only a man!" _

_And the mountain spirit answered: "Your wish is heard. A man once more you shall be!" _

_And a man he was, and in the sweat of his brow he toiled again at his trade of stone cutting. His bed was hard and his food scanty, but he had learned to be satisfied with it, and did not long to be something or somebody else. And as he never asked for things he did not have, or desired to be greater and mightier than other people, he was happy at last, and never again heard the voice of the mountain spirit._

**.**

Kanda pulled away from my ear slowly and I twisted, resting my head against his chest, sitting sideways on his lap. I pursed my lips, thinking through the story slowly. "Do you feel greedy, then?" I finally asked.

"Sort of," came the eventual answer. "I think I'm asking for too much."

"And what in the world could that be?" I said it with a laugh, but in all reality I was serious. Kanda seemed more somber than normal. The fact that he was reading something of the sort in the first place led me to believe that this wasn't a spontaneous kind of thought.

Unsurprisingly, he didn't answer this question. Instead he merely tightened his arms around me in my new position, glaring sideways at the couple that was staring at us openmouthed nearby. He was acting a bit possessive . . .

Ah. That was it.

"Kanda . . ." I muttered softly. "Could it be that you're . . . that you think you're being greedy because of me?"

"Che." I could hear the frown on his face even without looking. "And why do you think you're someone good enough for me to feel greedy over?"

"Well, you wouldn't want me if I weren't good enough."

"Damn, Moyashi. You're way too observant sometimes." He sighed. "Yeah. Alright. So I feel greedy because of you. So I feel like I'm taking too much by taking you for my own. But I want more than that. I want all of you. I want to know that you're never going to run off on me, or leave me behind. I want your heart, on top of everything else. And I know it's too much."

"It's not too much. But I see . . . it's not just greed you're ailing from." I sat up, pulling his arms away from me and pressing them down at his sides. I grinned tauntingly, trying to make light of the situation for just a moment. "It's a mixture of greed and possessiveness."

"Don't make fun of me," he growled.

"I'm not. I admit to the same serious illness. Hey . . . Kanda?"

He grunted.

"You don't have to want me. You already have me. And as long as this is the _only _thing you ask for—like, no extra concubines or the like, you know—then you aren't being greedy. No turning into big rocks for you. As for being jealous . . ." I giggled softly and leaned forward to give him a soft kiss on the lips. "I don't mind if my boyfriend is possessive. I'm perfectly fine with that, as a matter of fact."

"Momma?" a little girl asked from just two chairs down. "Momma, did that man just kiss another man?"

"Just ignore them, dear," a woman replied, somewhat shakily.

I glanced sheepishly at Kanda, only to find him sporting the same bright red blush as I was. Well, we couldn't deny that it was just a bit embarrassing. "Sorry," I mouthed.

The samurai shook his head in reply and kissed me back, just a bit harder than I had smooched on him. The little girl nearby gasped, but this time neither of us heard it. "Let's go back to the room," he whispered, a devious grin spreading across his face.

"Ooh, Kanda, so forward," I teased in reply.

"You just shut up." And before I could move to stand, he had already done so, swinging me into his arms bridal style in the same instant.

"Kanda!" I protested weakly. "BaKanda, put me down, right now!"

"No." Casually he brushed his hair over his shoulder and straight into my face . . . probably a punishment for the nickname. "To the room we go. And you squirm, I drop."

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

". . . dammit, you would."

**.**

"It seems we've failed," Road announced emotionlessly. "What an unexpected outcome."

"Did you see what happened?" Tyki's voice seemed quieter today; he was either very put off by something or relieved by it. Road suspected it was the latter of the two.

"The remaining Innocence contracted the Exorcists. It's ridiculous. The red-head . . . Lavi, was it? He contracted three pieces on his own. It's very unusual. Perhaps I should have gone to destroy the Innocence instead of the Exorcists. Rather foolish of me. Ah well. What's done is done." The Lolita girl sighed in annoyance and whirled around to stare at the Tyki-mist.

"Was that the last of the Innocence?" the former Noah of Pleasure questioned.

"Yes, I'm sure of it. All of their Innocence was sent to that Hevlaska person as soon as it was obtained by the Generals. The Earl destroyed everything they didn't already have."

"So that means Walker and Kanda have no chance to get stronger than they already are?"

"Well, I don't know about Allen. He has the heart, after all; there's no telling what lengths he can go to in order to win. But the Japanese ass can't get any stronger. This means that the Exorcists at home are now stronger than their 'trump cards' out on the field. It's kind of funny, really."

"So now we need to take out the Exorcists at their Headquarters."

Road snorted, waving a hand in the air. "Not necessarily. It's Allen's fault our dearest Earl is dead. Tyki, you know I want to get revenge on him for that. To be honest, I don't care about the others at all. The one we should be aiming for is the Jap. Or anything that will make Allen tick. I do love him, you know. But I've told him before. Family comes first."

"In other words, Road," the mist said cockily. "I may have something to fuel your intentions with Walker. I have found a host."

A Cheshire grin found its way onto Road's face, her dark eyes lighting up happily. "Ohhh~? Do tell, dearest Uncle."

**.**

"How much longer do you think we have to go?" I asked sleepily. Kanda was over on the couch, his book of folk tales open again, and I was completely content to just watch him from my spot on the bed, cuddled beneath a thin blanket.

"There's no telling," he replied without taking his eyes off of the book. "Remember? It depends on how the weather is. It's been nice, but there's no telling when it could turn on us. We could be there as early as five days from now if the wind is favorable. Why?"

"The rest of the food we have in here. It's not going to last more than a week. And I'm being careful with it, honest."

"I know you are. I've been checking."

"You have? Untrustworthy old man."

"You're the one that gets called an old man. You have no right to call me that."

"Oh, you're right. You're the one that gets called a woman."

"Moyashi, you say that one more time and I'm going to strangle you."

"That's not a very nice thing to say to your dearest lover," I laughed, but I did stop it. Kanda was to be feared even in his nice moments. "Anyway. I was just wondering. Should we ration out what we have left, just in case?"

"No." This time the reply was accompanied with a sideways glance. "You're already taking it easy the way it is. You Innocence needs the sustenance. With any luck the ship will stop at another port before we get to China."

"Mm. Well, I hope so." I rolled onto my back and stared up at the bunk above me. "It's only going to get worse," I breathed quietly. "Isn't it? I mean, right now, it feels like the calm before the storm. Something bad just ended, but I'm sure something worse will come very soon. I wonder what Road is really after."

"It's hard to say. But it's obviously not about the Innocence. Worrying about it will only make it worse, you know."

"Yeah, I know." I began to dully prod the palm of my left hand with my right pointer, flicking my finger against the hard material of the Innocence. "You don't think she's after the heart, do you? They know I carry it, after all."

"She would have gone straight after you instead of going to Headquarters."

"Good point."

"She'll tell you when she wants you to know. And until then, it shouldn't matter." Kanda set the book down and turned to fully face the bed. "As long as you're doing your duty to protect the world and the Innocence, then you're doing the right thing."

"But that's only relying on faith." I let my head fall sideways and met his inquisitive gaze. "And sometimes faith alone isn't enough, as much as we wish it to be."

"You're not usually this pessimistic about things. What's up?"

"I'm just . . . tired of it, that's all."

"You're giving up?"

"No. Of course not. But there's nothing wrong with hoping it can all end, is there? Road's been defeated before. Why can't she just leave things the way they are? It's pointless. We've beaten the Earl. Two left behind Noah aren't going to stop us . . . unless there's something extremely powerful up her sleeve."

"We'll just have to figure that one out. Forget about it, Moyashi." The book fell to the floor as Kanda stood up, and within a moment he was climbing over me in the bed, the look in his eyes signifying that he had a determined intent to cuddle. As I comfortably snuggled into his chest, he said, "You're on a ship, in the middle of nowhere. There's not much Road can do to us out here. Relax while you can. And when something happens, worry about it then."

"Then how did she manage to talk to us—"

"Moyashi. Cut it. Now. Or I'll sleep on the top bunk tonight."

"Yes, Master," I grumbled in annoyance.

. . . Needless to say, the reference to Cross ended up with Kanda and me in different bunks anyway.

**.**

'**Tis a bit shorter than the last chapter, but then again, the last chapter was extremely long for me. I want to start doing longer chapters than this, but it will have to be after I wrap up some of my other fics. Because I'm horrible at starting new stories when I already have a ton to work on. **

**Well, then. With that out of the way, I suppose I should be saying that this is the breaking point into another little arc, and also, possibly, the opening up for a new pairing? *cackles* I've dropped some hints as to what's going to happen in this chapter. **

**~Shadow out! **


	15. The Second Attack

**SHORT CHAPTER IS SHORT. *does a mental face palm***

**I really wanted to take a break after this chapter (no one kill me, lol) but once I got to the end I realized that if I randomly said, "Yup! You won't see me for a little while!" after this particular chapter, you would probably murder me in my sleep. So. I'll take a break once this little bit is cleared up. I need the readers on my side, after all. To an extent. ;) **

**So . . . I realized while I was writing this chapter that I **_**hate **_**writing Lavi. It's not that I don't like him, I just don't like **_**writing **_**him. Chances are Lavi sightings may be replaced with other Order members and . . . someone else. I'll still do Lavi, of course, but he just won't be a prominent figure quite as often until I can get his character down. **

**Rating for this chapter: T for some violence and some emo-Allen. D: Don't worry, it's not what you're thinking . . . **

**Warnings: Again, violence. Someone—I'm not telling you who until you read that far XD—is going to be attacked, and it ain't gonna be pretty. **

**Disclaimer: D. Gray-Man is the property of Katsura Hoshino**

**.**

Lavi hissed sharply, one hand clutching his nurse's shoulder and the other tightly wrapped around a cane. While two weeks ago it may have seemed that he was healing miraculously, the fact remained that his spine was a mess. This was perhaps his fifth attempt at standing since the nurse had told him he could risk it, and it felt anything but pleasant. On the contrary . . . he felt like an old man and whenever he bent over like one, he certainly looked like it too. Damn the cane . . . he was turning out to be more and more like that old panda every day!

"Oh, cheer up, Lavi; you're sure to get rid of the cane soon," Lenalee giggled. She was sitting in a chair beside the bed, waiting patiently for him to walk with her. The crack to her skull had turned out to be a very slight injury; after she'd showed no signs of a concussion it was concluded that she was perfectly fine. Lavi could only dream of having that much luck . . .

"What did Komui want us for, anyway?" the red-head asked, finally removing his hand from the nurse's shoulder to stand on his own.

"Oh, he wants to examine our Innocence."

Lavi yelped and almost jumped away from the door. "There's no way . . . I'm not committing suicide by going to see him! I have two parasite types now! No no no no no no—"

"Lavi!" the Chinese girl laughed. "Not examine like that. Though I'm sure he would want to. No, he just wants to ask us questions about it, and he wants to let Hevlaska see our synchronization rates. Isn't that fine?"

"Oh . . . okay. But if he shows any signs of wielding a giant drill I'm running." For the tenth time so far that day, he adjusted the eye patch fastening as Lenalee opened the door for him. He just couldn't get used to the piece of fabric again, not after having taken it off just after the war had ended. And for the second time, what lay underneath the patch was distorted, warped to the point where he himself had a problem staring at it.

"Quit messing with it," Lenalee sighed quietly; her small hand touched his larger one before tugging it down to his side. "It's something you'll have to get used to."

"Yes, I know. Will you help me down the hall?" He squeezed her hand happily; she really was just like a little sister to him. He was probably more relieved than Komui was about her memories returning, because . . . well, he never wanted to feel like his family had just been lost ever again. He wouldn't let the girl go again, no matter what. This new Innocence . . . it wasn't so much for God now than it was for his closest friends.

"You couldn't walk on your own anyway, silly." She nudged his side with her hip playfully. "Shall we go and see what Brother thinks of our new Innocence?"

"I guess." The red-head smiled back happily.

**.**

The mood in Komui's office was uncomfortably somber, despite the normal humor the beret-clad man exuded. Komui's eyes flickered around the room—which was scarily clean for once—and proceeded to stare at each individual Exorcist. Lavi, from his privileged seat on the couch, could not understand why the Head Scientist was acting in such a way. The attack had been a serious matter, yes, but the revival of the Innocence should have made it a happier occasion. The other Exorcists seemed proud enough . . . so why was Komui in such an unusual mood?

The silence seemed to last forever, and Lavi was glad that he didn't have to be the one to break it. Lenalee was the one to finally say quietly, "Brother, what's wrong? Shouldn't you be a bit more cheery about this?"

Komui sighed as he leaned back against the desk. "Have any of you thought about the implications of God's decision?"

"His decision about giving us all of the Innocence?" Miranda asked softly.

"Exactly. I believe that the reason all of the Innocence was distributed is because we are up against a much larger enemy than before."

"We're only up against Road, though," Lavi pointed out. "And she's one of the Noah, but we defeated the Earl."

The Chief turned his solemn gaze onto the red-head with a frown. "That time, when you were in the ark. You stabbed Road in her dream world, yes? And she turned to dust, signaling that you had properly killed her?"

"Right, but . . . somehow she came back. Or she was never dead in the first place and just wanted to fool us."

"Precisely. Something like that leads me to believe that Road Camelot is much more powerful than we previously assumed her to be. In fact, she may well be more powerful than the Earl himself was. We don't know what we're truly up against here."

The room became even more silent than before, if that was possible. Lavi had considered this possibility already . . . as a matter of fact, he had been wondering what the true limit of her powers could be for a very long time now. He wasn't at all shocked to find that she had survived the final battle. But if she was powerful enough that they needed this much Innocence to match it—assuming this, anyway—then they were in for a brawl much, much larger than the Earl's had been.

That was a very frightening thought indeed.

"We need Allen and Kanda back," Krory muttered, finally disrupting the quiet that had fallen once again.

"That isn't possible," Komui said with obvious annoyance. "I gave them a mission to complete, and they won't come back until they do just that. their ship was caught in a storm, besides that. They should have been in Asia by now, but they're virtually stuck in the middle of nowhere at the moment."

"Oh dear," Lenalee breathed. "Allen must be feeling terrible right now."

"Why would he feel terrible, but not Kanda?" Komui peered at his sister from over the rim of his glasses.

"Oh, Brother, could you really be so ignorant? It's his _Innocence_. He's got to be starving by now. Goodness knows ships like those don't serve enough food for Allen's appetite."

"You're saying I should have booked them on a luxury cruise liner?"

The Chinese girl huffed and punched a hand against the arm of the couch. "You should have! We all know how Allen gets when he's hungry. Kanda must be having a horrid time trying to keep him sane."

"On the same subject," Lavi intervened, "What if Road decides to attack them? Allen wouldn't be able to defend himself without plenty of food in his system. She might be waiting for an opportunity like that."

"And knowing the Noah, Road Camelot will probably do just that." Teidoll glanced up from a thick pad of sketch-riddled paper.

"There's one good thing about this whole Road business, though," Lavi announced quietly. "We aren't being controlled by the Vatican this time, and if we have to follow Komui . . . well, I, at least, will obey anything he says."

Nods quickly followed that statement, and Lavi was relieved to find a smile on Komui's face once more. The Order Heard replied, "It was quite the relief when they ran off after the Earl's demise. We will be able to work without stress now . . . and I can properly take care of your well-being. I am more than willing to give you missions because of that."

"I think the reason we all trust you so much is because of that," Miranda agreed.

"Now then!" Komui proclaimed, clapping his hands together excitedly. "Let's get to work looking at all of your Innocence!"

And he pulled out a giant drill and jackhammer from behind his desk.

**.**

Two bloody weeks.

Two weeks we had been trapped in this hell hole of a ship, in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight . . .

And there was no. Stinking. Food.

We had even rationed. As soon as the storm had hit, Kanda and I knew that our food wasn't going to last the rest of the trip. Kanda only ate the ship's rations; because he wasn't a parasite type, he could deal with going hungry. The remainder of the food we had stashed went to me . . . but even putting limits on the amount I could eat didn't help it last for more than a week. And now . . .

"I'm gonna be sick," I moaned for the umpteenth time in one day.

"For God's sake, Moyashi," Kanda snapped, "there's nothing left in your stomach to come up! It's hunger, Baka, not nausea."

"I still feel sick, either way." My left arm gave a painful twitch as I spoke, and I sighed at the now familiar reminder to eat. "Ships," I proclaimed exhaustedly, "are the most evil things in the world. The Earl has nothing on this."

"You don't really mean that," the Japanese swordsman scoffed.

"I do right now." I turned my head sideways on the pillow and shifted my position on the bottom bunk. I could hardly move at this point; I was too hungry to do anything but complain. My next words weren't as much complaining as genuine tiredness, though. "My arm hurts."

Kanda—he was sitting beside me on the bed, book in hand—smiled reluctantly and reached to wrap his free hand around my practically immobile fingers. The pain lessened slightly at his touch. "You should go to sleep for awhile. The longer you stay up, the more it hurts."

"No, I'm fine." I nestled my nose into the old pillow, hoping the small movements would help me relax. "All I've been doing is sleeping. I want to stay aware for a little while."

"Stupid medic center," he grumbled unhappily. "The least they could have done was to give you something to dull the pain."

"No, Kanda, it's fine. The storm caused a lot of damage; the injured sailors need the painkillers more than I do. I'm more used to pain than they are." I pulled my head to the other side. "You're sure there's nothing else to eat?" I moaned again . . . I'd been asking near constantly for the past three days.

"I've already looked. There's nothing else." Kanda glanced over at the porthole curiously. "Dinner is in an hour or so. You can have my serving."

"No, you idiot! I already told you I don't want to take your food. You need to eat too. We can't both be weak."

"True . . . at the rate you're going, I'll have to carry you into the first restaurant we find as soon as we hit Asia."

"I wouldn't mind that," I giggled weakly. To emphasize my point, my stomach growled once more, along with an accompanying twitch of my arm. "Damn," I sighed in frustration. "It doesn't give me a break, does it?"

"Go back to sleep," Kanda growled again, letting go of my hand. "I'm serious, Moyashi. Or I won't bring your food back with me. Besides, if you sleep at least you can conserve some energy."

"Fine, fine . . ."

And unfortunately, even though I'd only just been asleep half an hour before, I was out within moments of agreeing to Kanda's demand.

**.**

"shi . . . Moyashi . . . Moyashi! Oi! Allen, wake your fat ass up!"

"Good God," I moaned as I wearily blinked my eyes open. "Did I really just hear the person with the pet names call me by my real name?"

"No, you didn't. It was your bad hearing. Now get up or I'm going to eat your nasty looking porridge stuff."

"It's porridge? Great. That's hardly filling at all."

"There's bread to go with it." Kanda shoved the thin slice of aforementioned grain into my mouth without any regard to my health . . . though I supposed it was fine. I would much rather he treated me as though there were nothing wrong with me. I smiled around the slice of bread and slowly sat up to take the bowl of porridge into my lap.

The room was dark; I glanced around in surprise, wondering how it had gotten to that point without dinner coming back. "Why . . ." I started.

"Apparently the cook blew something up in the kitchen, so we had to wait an extra two hours for dinner." Kanda shrugged uncaringly and flopped down on the bed beside me. "I just let you sleep until I came back. You looked pretty tired anyway."

"Oh. Thanks, then." I let my eyes flicker away from him and down at the food in my normal hand. "You're sure this is porridge?"

"It tasted vaguely like porridge . . . I suppose it could be soggy cereal too. Does it really matter? You need to eat it anyway."

"Mm." I raised the spoon to my mouth slowly; scarfing it down would do no good. I looked back over at Kanda again as I ate. He was sitting with his back to me at the edge of the bunk, hair loose and falling down his back. His shoulders seemed tense, but I figured that was because of me, and I brushed it off. He looked tired . . . I wondered if it was because of being lost, or because of me. "Kanda?"

He grunted, an indication for me to continue.

"Have you been sleeping?"

One cobalt blue eye turned towards me without a turn of the head. "Is it that obvious?" he asked with chagrin.

"Not really. I just kind of had a feeling about it. besides, you're really tense."

His lips tugged downwards. "I'm just trying to stay alert for both of us. You can't exactly pay attention to our surroundings when you're more concerned about food."

"Maybe, but it looks like you haven't relaxed in days. Will you sleep with me tonight?" I glanced back down at my bowl, only to find it mockingly empty once more. They _really _didn't feed their passengers enough . . .

"I thought you didn't want me to sleep with you. I always roll over on your arm."

I sighed irritably. "But Kanda, I can tell you aren't getting any sleep on the top bunk. You keep rolling around all night. Don't deny it."

"Che . . . don't you start thinking I can't sleep because of you."

"So you will?" I laughed.

He growled again, but I knew that this time it was an affirmation. One of the things I'd recently learned about Kanda was that he was stubborn . . . but he wasn't stubborn for long, especially when it benefitted him. This, apparently, was one of those times.

"Then, as soon as you bring the bowl back to the kitchen, you can—"

The sentence was never finished.

A large crack echoing through the room was the only warning we had before the wall next to us exploded, showering plaster and metal all over us. Kanda acted fast, his body moving to shield mine before any of the shards could hit me. "Kanda!" I protested.

"You're weak enough the way it is," he hissed. "Think how bad off you'll be if you got injured."

"But still! We can't both of us be injured, otherwise neither one of us will be getting anywhere!" I pushed him off of me as best as I could, blinking at the dust that still floated down. The entire west wall had been blown down to reveal the sea just barely below the floor. "Shit . . ." I moaned. "Why'd we have to take the room in the lower levels?"

"It wasn't like we could choose. Why did the wall explode?"

I didn't see anything, at first. I wouldn't have if it weren't for my left eye. The room was completely empty, and at first I thought it had just been because of something natural . . . and then there was a sharp whirring, my left eye suffered a painful twitch, and my head jerked over to the hole in the wall. "There's an akuma," I breathed. "I can't see it, but there's one here."

Kanda instantly gritted his teeth, eyes flickering over my form worriedly. "We can't fight."

"We _have _to. It will just follow us if we try to run . . . and if you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of nowhere. We _can't _run. Kanda, you have to fight it."

"I won't let you fight," he said firmly.

"But—"

"No, Moyashi." He grasped my left arm fiercely, earning a squeak of protest on my end. "You see? If you fight, you'll be unconscious until we hit Asia, which could be who knows how long. You probably can't even activate for more than five minutes."

"_Here, little Exorcists . . ."_ a tinny voice echoed from outside.

"Level Four," I breathed as the bulbous shape finally entered the room. No matter how tough Kanda was, I knew there was no way he'd be able to beat this thing alone. I turned back to him grimly. "Fifteen minutes."

"What?"

"I'm giving you fifteen minutes to beat that guy . . . girl . . . whatever it is. And then I'm joining in, and I don't care what you say to oppose it. I don't care if you swear I won't get any food for a month. He's too strong, Kanda! You can't beat it by yourself, and we both know it."

"You know what?" he spat, pulling himself up from the bed and slowly reaching under it to extract Mugen from its hiding place. "I hate that fact that you're more pigheaded than I am. And I hate that I love it. This is ridiculous."

"Love you too, BaKanda," I replied sweetly. "You'd better start kicking that thing's butt, because the timer just started. Fifteen minutes."

"Che. Asshole." Mugen's sheath dropped down onto the plaster-covered bed. His eyes jerked over to the motionless akuma for just a moment, and then he leaned down to kiss me fleetingly. "If you move before those fifteen minutes are up I'll skewer you afterwards."

"Mm." I pulled the empty sheath into my lap and leaned back against the wall. "Be careful. There's no fast healing now, after all."

He shrugged, smiled crookedly, and whirled around, hair flying out behind him untied. "Oi, ugly machine thingy! Now's your chance to run if you don't want this sword through you."

The akuma cocked its head sideways curiously before letting out that horrendous giggle that caused shudders up my spine. _"You're Kanda Yuu," _it laughed. _"I have orders from Road to kill you and take Allen Walker to her." _

"I'll kill you before you can touch him."

And then Kanda attacked, words were done with, and I could hardly see what was happening anymore. The dust was flying all over the place; I could only hope that it wasn't blocking Kanda's sight very badly. Every time the ship rocked, a bit of seawater came floating into the room. When I realized this, I leaned down over the edge of the bed and, with my left eye carefully trained on the ensuing battle, pulled our suitcases onto the bed where they wouldn't get wet.

Kanda wasn't going to beat this guy in fifteen minutes. From the sound of the thumps, giggling, and continuous cursing, it was pretty obvious. This akuma outmatched Kanda, and it would have severely outmatched me as well. Together we could beat it; I was sure of that. We'd done it before, and I had the scar to prove it. But unless Kanda let me help him, he would be sorely wounded by the time the fifteen minutes were up. "Kanda . . ." I tried.

"Moyashi, you keep your butt seated right where it is," he shot back at me.

Five minutes . . . I had approximately five minutes to defeat the akuma after activating my Innocence. I knew I had to tread carefully. I had to be ready to go the second Kanda got hurt—whether he wanted my help or not—and I had to know what to do. The stomach and chest areas were the best places to aim for; the head seemed able to function on its own, which meant that destroying it wouldn't be the same as destroying the akuma. My sword was strong enough to cut through the skin of the machine . . . but only if there was a sufficient force to push it through. I would have to get Kanda's help, because I knew I wasn't strong enough to do it by myself in this state.

"Kanda, I can do it! I can kill him in five minutes, if you help me—I'm sure of it."

"I _told _you, Moyashi—shit! I am not . . . ngh . . . toting you halfway across Asia! You stay put!"

"Ten minutes left," I whispered to myself. "Ten minutes, and I . . ."

"_I must capture Walker, at all costs." _There, that atrocious giggling again. I leaned forward, trying to see past the flying dust. _"I don't have to kill you to get to him." _

"I'll never let you touch him!" Kanda yelled back. "If you think you can get past me, then you've got something coming for—"

_Crack!_

I gasped, my right hand flying up to my mouth in horror as Kanda's limp body came flying into the bunk beds. What had happened? Surely the akuma hadn't moved so fast he hadn't noticed, and he'd been fine just a second before . . . unless, of course, his rage at the akuma had blinded his thoughts for a moment . . .

That would be so like Kanda, of course.

Before I could scrabble over to where the other Exorcist lay, a dark form misted inside of the dust, looming closer. The akuma was in front of me before I could react; my left eye whirred dangerously in its socket, screaming danger ahead. "Oh God . . ." I breathed, pressing my back up against the wall like it would help me get away from the Level Four. Not good . . .

"_Allen Walker," _the akuma laughed tauntingly. _"Mistress Road has requested your presence." _

"Requested?" I sent back, thinking quickly of a way to get out of the situation. "Then surely that means that I have the right to decline."

"_Wrong." _The Level Four slowly lifted its right arm. In its hand, it was clutching . . .

_Mugen. _

"H-how . . ."

"_Mistress Road has requested your presence . . . and she wants to see you defeated. I have permission to hurt and maim Allen Walker before bringing him in. Let's have fun, shall we?" _

And it giggled once more as it shoved Kanda's Innocence through my body.

**.**

**Hehe . . . so. Thus the reason I can't exactly dance off for a break on this fic right now. Like I said. You guys would murder me. I'm sorry this chapter is short, but I didn't want to stretch this out to more than it should have been. If I'd stretched, this would have been one hell of a boring chapter up until the end. **

**OMG WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO ALLEN? **

…**only I know. *emits an evil laugh* **

**Until next time!**

**~Shadow**


	16. Second Plan in Motion

**Well, here we are . . . the last chapter before I take a temporary break from **_**Revelations**_**. I know, I haven't been updating all that fast anyway, but I need time to get back into the fandom before the characters get too OOC or anything. After all, I can't exactly clash Allen in with a personality like Ciel's (Kuroshitsuji). But on the bright side, I'm giving you guys a chapter without a major cliffhanger ending, so you won't be all "WHAT HAPPENS?" **

**Is anyone even still reading this, though? *laughs* I mean, I've been horrible at updating. Even **_**I **_**will admit that. Half of you probably don't even remember what the beginning of this was about. (And for that matter, I don't remember it all that well either . . .)**

**Chapter Rating: T again for continued violence, language, sexual hints (don't worry, I don't say a single thing outright), and injured main charries. *gets shot* On the bright side I'm not going to skip over the end of the fighting scene this time like I did with Lavi. XD **

**Disclaimer: -Man is the property of Katsura Hoshino.**

**.**

Even though the Fourteenth was no longer in my body, that didn't mean I couldn't be afraid of someone else's Innocence inside of me. It wasn't supposed to _be _there. It was, without a doubt, the rudest intruder that could possibly force its way on me. And as I stared down at Mugen, protruding fully through my body, the first thing that registered was not the pain. It was the fear that Kanda's innocence would kill me just like my own had almost done.

"_Oh?" _our resident level four giggled. _"My, it didn't kill you instantly. That's good, that's good . . . Road-sama would not be happy if it had. Very impressive, Walker." _

It _hadn't _killed me yet. And, brain finally registering the fact that there was a freaking _sword _shoved through my stomach, that was a feat I shouldn't have been expecting. The pain was merely a dull throbbing at this point; if I moved it would probably flare into something I couldn't control. _But . . . _I glanced over at Kanda worriedly. He wasn't moving; if he wasn't dead—and I prayed with all of my heart that he wasn't—he was out cold, and he wouldn't be getting up for awhile at least. If I didn't do something fast, the Akuma would take me to Road for sure.

Imagine how Kanda would feel waking up to _that _reality.

On another note, I now had another complication limiting the amount of time I had to fight this Level Four. Besides the fact that I couldn't keep my Innocence invoked for longer than five minutes, I was practically bleeding all over the bed. I had to do something soon before I bled to death, and on top of that point, I had no idea if there were any internal organs damaged by that thrust. I had five minutes. That was all.

However, it appeared that even that would be giving me too much time as the pain finally hit. I gasped shallowly as I doubled over against the sword, my vision flickering dangerously as my body tried to pass out. I wouldn't let it, though, not under the circumstances we were in. As I coughed up a mouthful of blood, I raised my gaze to the Akuma defiantly. "You aren't going to take me to Road," I rasped out.

"_The only way I won't is if you beat me, Walker. And that ain't possible." _

"Want to bet?" I straightened up and painstakingly wrapped my right hand around the hilt of Mugen. Kanda wouldn't like this, but . . . given the situation we were in, I could deal with a reprimand as long as I succeeded. I sucked in a deep breath before yanking the blade from my stomach and throwing it straight at the Akuma. Without Kanda activating the Innocence, it wouldn't do much damage, but it would hopefully surprise my opponent for just a moment . . . while I got my bearings back. Pulling out the sword caused the blood to flow more freely, and it didn't help my limited tolerance of pain on top of that.

While I spit out more blood, I raised my eyes to see the damage I'd caused. It was better than I'd hoped; Kanda's sword was lodged firmly in one of the Akuma's eyes, and it looked like it wasn't coming out anytime soon. Now was the best chance I had to get out of the predicament. I slowly pulled my feet out from under me and slid to the edge of the bed, my right hand still placed over my wound to try and stop the blood flow. As soon as I stood, I wanted to pass out right alongside Kanda; my head was spinning in a way I'd never felt before. But instead I held up my left arm and said quietly, "Innocence, activate."

If nothing else could get that Akuma's attention, that sure did. The moment the words left my mouth it was leaping for me, the sword all but forgotten. I was a threat . . . I was sure that Road had told this Level Four about that. Even against Level Fours I had gotten stronger. I _had _to, or we never would have beaten the Earl in the first place. Of course, I didn't know how I was going to hold up when I was so weak, but at all costs, I had to make sure Road didn't get me. Otherwise . . .

Everything we'd done to get this far would be ruined.

"I will beat you in five minutes," I said coldly, sidestepping the Akuma's furious rush. "And then Road has to leave us alone. I refuse to go back with you."

"_You're too confident. Road-sama will have you. You can't fight." _

"Tch," I spat back, in a way that would have made Kanda proud, and then counterattacked.

**.**

"My head hurts," Lavi moaned. "Lenalee, you said he wouldn't do anything weird!"

"I did, but I didn't know he had an extra set of those tools . . . I'm sorry, Lavi. Do you want an icepack?"

"No . . . I think all I want to do is go to sleep." He paused. "I'll try to contact Allen and Kanda too; I haven't talked to them in awhile. They should be in Asia by now."

"That sounds like a good idea!" the Chinese girl laughed. "Let me know how they are, okay? I'm worried about them."

"You're _always _worried about them," he replied with a smile. "Don't worry, I'll let you know."

"Great. Thanks, Lavi."

**.**

It was . . . _hard _fighting like this. I could easily keep up with the Akuma, but getting the _better _of it was turning out to be the real problem. My left arm moved sluggishly, and I knew I couldn't risk taking out the sword, because that took an even larger synch rate. I had never beaten a Level Four without the sword's aid, though, and I wasn't sure I could do it. However, seeing Kanda still collapsed next to the bunk beds spurred my momentum somewhat. It wasn't self preservation anymore. I had an intent to protect the one I loved. It was obvious that if I lost, the Akuma wouldn't hesitate to kill my samurai warrior before taking off with me.

Then, of course, I'd have said samurai glaring at me from heaven with a force that would scare the angels away. We couldn't have that, could we?

But it was two minutes into my limited five, and I was already too tired to stand upright. I'd given up on holding the wound closed and was using my right arm's Crown Clown instead. I had my back pressed up against the pole of the bunk beds, giving myself just enough leeway to move away from the Akuma's attempts at grabbing me. I had to think of a way out of this fast—

The dumb thing lunged again, this time narrowly missing my right shoulder. I shot back a short defensive move, but it didn't help; the Level Four merely grinned and moved in again. "Shit shit shit shit shit . . ." I recited under my breath. The head . . . I had to cut its head off somehow. And then stab it through the middle, just in case. I had to be sure that he wouldn't come after us while we were on the ship.

"_Allen? Kanda?"_

"Shit!" I ground out again; Lavi couldn't have picked a worse time to call from our golem. I winced unhappily as the Akuma casually crunched the poor thing up in its hand. Thank God it wasn't Timcampy . . .

A soft groan from beside the bed echoed through the room, and I breathed out a quiet sigh of relief at the knowledge that Kanda was alive. Still, that didn't help anything when he was more or less incapacitated. But just in case he was able to get a hit in . . . I didn't want to alert the Akuma to Kanda's presence.

Or at least, that was what I thought before everything came to an abrupt, horrifying halt. My left arm suddenly made a painful spasm before reverting back into its normal form. Just a second later, the rest of my Innocence deactivated, and everything came crashing down on me with one terrifying spell. I choked, more blood spewing from my mouth, and collapsed down to the dust-and-wood-covered floor with a sharp wail. It was supposed to stay activated for five minutes! Obviously, the loss of blood would have something to do with it, but I hadn't expected my time to run out so unexpectedly . . .

"_Heh . . . so much for stopping me," _the Akuma laughed. _"And Road-sama said you were dangerous, too . . ." _

"Sh-shut up . . ." I whispered faintly. Obviously I'd lost; there was no way I could beat something as powerful as a Level Four in the state I was in. While the Akuma crept closer, I sighed tiredly and shut my eyes. With any luck, Kanda would take care of it after I was taken, but I didn't particularly like the idea of that being risked, and besides, Road would sooner kill me than keep me in any way. I prepared to be lifted, or grabbed, or even knocked out . . .

But what I wasn't expecting was for the Akuma to shriek and explode.

I jerked my head up to look at what had just happened. It was with no terribly great shock that Kanda was standing there, blood dripping down the side of his face, Mugen sitting comfortably in its sheath at his side. The Japanese Exorcist glanced down at me with angry blue eyes, and he shook his head. "You know, you're lucky I like you," he growled.

"Why's that?" I groaned, wrapping my arms around my stomach.

"Under the circumstances," he answered arrogantly, "I will kindly forget that you shoved my sword into that thing's eye. Understood?"

"Yeah. Can I pass out now?"

"You're not gonna die, are you?"

"I'll try not to," I snorted exhaustedly.

"Then be my guest."

In all honesty, he didn't need to say _that _twice.

**.**

Lavi knocked on the door worriedly, hoping that Lenalee was in; if she wasn't, he didn't know what he was going to do. But luckily, after a moment of consistent pounding, the Chinese girl appeared at the door, a towel wrapped around her body. "Oops," the red-head muttered sheepishly. "Did I cut your shower short?"

"Oh, it's alright," she laughed calmly. "It sounded pretty urgent, anyway. What's going on?"

"I think something happened where Allen and Kanda are," he said seriously. "I tried to contact them, but the only thing I heard was Allen cursing before the connection cut off. And he sounded like he was out of breath—oi! Lenalee, why are you laughing? I'm trying to tell you something!"

"Lavi, are you sure they weren't being intimate?" she snorted.

"Eh?"

"I'm sure that's all it was," she continued gaily. "I mean, if someone had interrupted you in the middle of something like that, wouldn't you be mad? I'm sure they were just having some alone time. A _lot _of it."

Lavi gaped at the giggling Chinese girl in shock. "L-Lenalee . . . are you sure you aren't a devil in disguise?"

**.**

"Jeez . . . and to think, I told you I didn't want to lug you halfway across Asia, too," were the words I woke up to approximately twelve hours after I'd passed out. Sure, it wasn't exactly the most pleasant way to greet your half-dead boyfriend, but I managed to crack a weak smile before I opened my eyes. Kanda stood over my head, his hair loose and hanging down to curl just beside my face, a large bandage plastered over his forehead. The scowl was in place too, but it was oddly welcome; it meant everything was back to normal.

My back and stomach _hurt_, though, so my smile didn't stay in place for long. The bed I was lying in was much more comfortable than the bunks of our room; I felt relief in knowing that Kanda had the sense to ask for a different cabin for the rest of our _wonderful _experience on the ship. Still, a comfortable bed didn't make the pain go away, and it didn't help that I was lying fully on my back.

"Where are we?" I sighed finally, turning my attention to Kanda.

"They gave us the captain's cabin," the Japanese man explained with a smirk. "They wanted to make it up to us for having a room that exploded . . . my explanation was it must have been a heating pipe. Moyashi, what the hell were you doing? Did you _want _the ship's medic to pay attention to you?"

"Course not. You were out cold, BaKanda. Not _my _fault you lost your sword."

"Tch." He grumpily sat down on the edge of the bed, eyes still narrowed in on me. "Are you alright?"

"There's a bloody hole through my stomach. Of course I'm not alright."

"I'm asking about right now, Moyashi!"

"Eh." I shifted slightly to get some of my weight off of my back. The pain wasn't as bad as I had feared, but with the movement I found that I was incredibly dizzy. Whether that was from a loss of blood or hunger, I couldn't tell. "It's not so bad."

"Think you can eat something?"

"What kind of a stupid question is that?"

"Just checking." I watched as Kanda reached over to a table and grabbed a bowl. "I still can't give you that much because the cook is stingy. But we're expected to make land by tomorrow morning, so you can make your stomach stop growling at me then."

"We're going to land in Asia, right?"

"As far as I know. You can't eat lying down, dummy."

"And _I _can't sit up by myself."

"What are you, lazy?"

"Stupid BaKanda, _you're _the lazy one—oh!"

"Oh?"

"Crap, Lavi," I hissed, bolting upright with no regard to injury. "The golem started up in the middle of the fight, but the Akuma broke the connection . . . he must be worried! Kanda, do you have the spare golem Komui gave us?"

Kanda raised an eyebrow questioningly. "You would rather talk to the idiot usagi than eat?"

"_No_. I'm going to eat _and _talk to Lavi. Honestly, knowing him, he probably thinks we're dead. And then he'll have told Lenalee and Komui, which will only make things worse . . . see what I mean? We have to let him know we're alright." I grabbed the bowl from Kanda, intent on feeding myself. "Whoa . . . what is this? It's like the cook spoils himself and gives us all crap. I should have demanded _this _stuff."

Kanda snorted derisively. "If we had, we might have gotten kicked off the ship. This guy thinks he's better than everyone else. Here's the golem; it connects directly to headquarters."

"Great." I reached out with my right hand and switched the little gadget on. Immediately there was static, and then the sound of someone connecting on the other end, presumably Komui. _"Hello?" _I heard from the other end.

"Komui?" I breathed. "Is Lavi around?"

"_No, but I can send the golem's signal to him. Is there a problem?"_

"Eh . . . well, there was, but we're fine now. I just wanted to apologize to Lavi before he gets too concerned. We were cut off yesterday. Is everything alright over there?"

"_Oh yes, splendid and boring and all that. My darling Lenalee is practically begging for a mission, did you know? Of course, I would never let her; she's too precious to go out on the battlefield and all . . ." _

"If you don't do what she wants, she's going to be sending _you _on a mission," Kanda cut in. "You know that."

"_Yes, yes, well. Of course in the end I'll let her do whatever she wants, because I could never refuse such a beautiful—"_

"Komui."

"_Eh . . . yes, right, Lavi. Hold on just a moment and he should connect with you." _

"Thank God we got lost in that storm," Kanda huffed. "That's longer I don't have to spend time with that insufferable fool."

"Let's just hope we don't get lost in a storm on the way back. And we're switching boats. There is no way I'm riding back on this hellhole."

"And what do you propose we switch with?"

I rolled my eyes; it should have been painfully obvious. "A cruise ship, _duh_. So I can eat all I want. It's not like we're running low on money, so Komui won't mind if we splurge a bit anyway." I stuck a spoonful of soup in my mouth then, to signal that I wasn't going to talk again until Lavi connected. Kanda seemed just fine with that; he flopped back against the headboard and took to putting his hair back into its normal ponytail.

"_Allen?"_

"Ah, Lavi!" I breathed in relief. "Listen, I'm sorry about yesterday when we got cut off, it wasn't my—"

"_Yesterday? Oh, er . . . well, y'know, Allen, it's perfectly fine. I understand."_

"You do? Wait, but I don't understand. I mean, you got cut off, and I was too busy to actually say something before I lost the connection. It's just, I was in a bit of a fix . . . you really understand? I didn't think you could possibly know what had happened."

An awkward laugh sounded from the other end. _"To be honest, I didn't at first, but Lenalee explained it to me. But anyway, I understand completely that you don't want anyone interrupting your . . . ahem . . . alone time with Kanda . . ." _

"Alone time?" I questioned in confusion. "What do you mean by that? I was attacked."

"_I'm sure that's how it happened; no offense, Allen, but you're too innocent to initiate something like that . . ." _

"Lavi," Kanda growled impatiently. "What exactly did Lenalee tell you?"

"_Umm . . . that you cut me off because you two were doing . . . inappropriate things . . ." _

"And you believed her?" Kanda glanced towards me with an exasperated scowl. "Allen, tell him what happened. Obviously Lenalee spun another of her boys' love tales to him."

"Really? Great." As much as I liked the fact that Lenalee was back among the living, I certainly did _not _miss that side of her. This wasn't the first time Lavi had become the victim of one of her articulately thought out stories. "Lavi, a Level Four got into our cabin yesterday. I couldn't answer you before you got cut off because the Akuma broke the golem."

"_Ah! See, that's what I thought, but then I told Lenalee and . . . anyway, are you both okay?" _

"Not really." I lifted the spoon to my mouth again, intent on finishing the soup before it got too cold. "Kanda took a hit to the head, and I took Kanda's sword. Literally."

"_Kanda stabbed you?" _

"_No_," Kanda protested angrily. "The dumb Akuma knocked me out and took my sword. It ran Mugen through Allen's stomach."

"_No way, really?" _A loud thump echoed in from Lavi's end; I wondered idly if he had dropped something. _"Allen, are you okay? I mean, you sound fine, but you're good at hiding it when you get hurt . . ." _

"I'm fine, Lavi, just extremely hungry. Kanda will take care of me, after all. So, um . . . go tell Lenalee what _really _happened, okay? Ah! And tell Komui that we should be in Asia by tomorrow morning. Also, we won't be taking the _Nocturnal Disaster_ on the return trip. We're taking a damn cruise liner."

"_Those words exactly?"_

"Yup."

"_My Lord, Kanda has rubbed off on you. Where is our cute little Allen?" _

I paused. "He died a couple years ago when Lenalee corrupted him."

**.**

"That _stupid _Akuma!" Road hissed angrily. "It had plenty of chances to grab Walker, but . . . but . . ."

"Road," Tyki's discombobulated voice sighed. "Just calm down. After all, we _did _have a drawback plan. You didn't exactly expect the Akuma to capture him, did you? You told me yourself, it was a test."

"I know, but it still infuriates me! Must he always escape from my grasp?"

"Don't forget that there is always our back up plan. Would you like to set that in motion?"

The Lolita idly picked up a doll and started to pick at the weak stitching. "It's up to you. Do you think you can handle it, dear Uncle Tyki? I won't accept failure."

"I would never fail you, of course. I will make sure this part of the plan is a complete success. What do you say?"

"Hmm . . ." She smiled happily. "I say you'd better get going if you want to get things started before Allen and that other man come back. Good luck, Uncle."

"I won't need luck for this job."

**.**

"Ow . . . _ow_, Kanda, you're squeezing too tight! Seriously, just let me ride on your back or something, it would be so much easier—"

"You're heavy enough as it is, Moyashi. I'm not dealing with a hunched back for the reset of my life. Get over it. Unless you'd like to walk . . ."

"You know that's impossible right now."

"Are you _always _this insufferable when you're wounded?" the samurai snarled angrily.

"Um . . . Thank God we've made it to Asia?"

"_No. _Thank God we've almost made it to the Asia Branch Headquarters."

It was extremely lucky on our part that the storm had blown us far enough to the right that we had landed only about two days' walk away from our destination. We had found a ride through about half of that walk, and now we were only a few minutes away . . . much to our relief. I would admit it willingly: I was a grouch when I was in pain, and on top of that, I was still hungry. I'd hardly eaten a thing since we got off the ship thanks to a certain sword's mark on me. We would both be much more content in the company of others.

And we were both thankful that we had made the rest of the trip without further incident.

"When was the last time we saw Bak?" I asked quietly; even if our squabbling was anything but unusual, I didn't want to end our conversation on a sour note.

"Just after that last battle. He left early because he was too depressed about Lenalee to say anything else to us. Don't you remember? I wonder if Komui even told him what happened."

"Probably not. I suppose we'll have to say something, though. Bak's going to be pretty mad . . ."

"Thank God you're so light," Kanda muttered to himself; he stopped walking and adjusted me in his arms. I flinched uncomfortably; he was very good at brushing his hands over the wound in my back, even though I'd told him several times to watch it. "Bak will get over it. Besides, he was a pedo, looking at her like that. How old is he again?"

"I have no idea." I turned my head to look at the terrain ahead of us. "Ah . . . isn't that the door up there?"

"Is it? Damn, it looks so overgrown. Looks like those idiots haven't left the place in ages."

"That's the only way in, too. Maybe someone's waiting for us."

"Moyashi, they didn't even know when we'd get here. Why the hell would they be waiting on us?"

"Mm. Good point."

His hand floated over my back again, and I yelped. "You're bleeding," he complained before I had a chance to demand what he was doing.

"I've _been _bleeding, genius," I huffed. The front and back of my shirt was stained deep crimson, and I figured I wouldn't get any serious medical attention until we made it safely inside the Asian Branch. "Just . . . knock on the door or something; I'm sure Fou will hear."

"I can't knock with my hands full, dummy."

"So let me knock, whatever. It's not as complicated as you're making it out to be, dear."

"You're lucky I love you or I'd punch you right now."

"How sweet." I reached out slowly—in the midst of our arguing, we'd made it to the door—and pounded firmly against it. We didn't have to wait nearly as long as I had thought we would; merely five seconds later the shape of the middle of the enormous door began to morph and twist. The shape of a young girl emerged and floated down from it, and the door shrank back into its normal form.

"Hello, Fou," I said amiably.

The Asian Branch's guardian glanced up at us incredulously. "Why," she stated in annoyance, "do you _always _come here injured, Walker?"

I blinked. "I . . . uh . . . I don't know?"

"Che," Kanda sighed. "Because he's a klutz, that's why."

"I am not a klutz!"

"Bak's been waiting for you," Fou continued on, ignoring our small argument completely. "You'd better get on inside; it's taken you long enough as it is. Komui left a message, too."

"Eh?" I frowned in confusion and locked eyes with Kanda. "What was it?"

"If you get on a cruise ship he's going to make sure he sends Lavi on your next mission just to annoy you."

"That . . ." I muttered.

"Yeah," Kanda groaned. "It's almost not worth it."

"_Damn _that Komui."

**.**

**I'm sorry it's another short one, but I thought that if I extended it any further you guys would be extremely bored. I mean. I got bored writing it. :| **

**I don't know how long of a break I'm going to be on with this story, but I plan on coming back with a bang, so be ready~ Thanks for reading as always! **

**~Shadow**


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